The Condor Express
by WhispertheWolf
Summary: "Storm Hawks" parody on "The Polar Express"! On Christmas Eve, Piper hitches a ride on a magical ship - piloted by a paranoid Merb - on the way to Polar Terra! On the way, she's joined by Junko, Finn, Aerrow and Radarr, and . . . Cyclonis?
1. Chapter 1: A Magic Ship of Mayhem

Author's Notes: Sorry this took so long to get out. Exams sort of caught up with me and have been making me put a lot of work on hold. Anyway, this is the Christmas special I promised, based on the beloved tale, _The Polar Express_. This children's book (1985) was turned into a much-longer movie version in 2004. So here I have made a Storm Hawks version, which draws from both the book and the movie.

No, this is not like _A Storm Hawks' Christmas Carol_. Although meant to be humorous at times, this fic will not have the beloved narrator of _Carol_ or have the _Storm Hawks_ characters arguing about their roles. It is because the characters in _The Polar Express_ are not so constant like they are in _A Christmas Carol_, and so therefore it is very difficult to assign parts. So, I am simply putting the Storm Hawks into the adventure. Of course, this takes place in the Atmos with _Storm Hawks_ elements, and the Condor Express actually flies from terra to terra instead of being a train . . . well, you'll see. Read on, and may the Christmas Spirit be with you, my friend!

Disclaimer: I do not own any element of _Storm Hawks_, which is property of Nerd Corpse; _The Polar Express_ children's book, which belongs to Chris Van Allsburg; or the 2004 film _The Polar Express_, which belongs to Warner Bros. Pictures.

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><p><strong>Storm Hawks—The Condor Express<strong>

**By WhispertheWolf**

Chapter 1: A Magic Ship of Mayhem

On Christmas Eve, many years ago, I lay quietly in my bed. I did not rustle the sheets. I breathed slowly and silently. I was listening for a sound—a sound a friend had told me I'd never hear—the ringing bells of Santa's sleigh. It was a sound I was afraid I would never hear.

"There is no Santa," my friend had insisted. And I wondered if he was right.

Suddenly, my eyes flew open. That was it! I heard it! But could I be sure? I turned toward the window and slowly clamored out of bed. As I approached the windowsill, I anxiously put my arm down on the heater, and I felt it burning my arm immediately. I pulled it away and look at the window in frustration. The stupid heater was making the window foggy. Trying to get a better view, I rubbed the window with my still-hot sleeve.

That did eventually make a nice viewing hole, but when I peered out, all I could see was the snow drifting slowly down on the houses along the street and the snowman my sister Lynn and I had built together. But no Santa.

Then I heard the bell again. It wasn't coming from outside. I turned around. _It was coming from behind my door._

Slowly I tiptoed toward the door, not daring to breathe in case I scared the jolly man away. My foot accidentally hit a crystal and sent it rolling into the furnace. I froze as it clattered softly. Had anyone heard it?

I listened. No footsteps. I was in the clear.

Hurriedly I ran toward the door, opened it, and was out on the staircase in a matter of seconds. And from there I could see the living room.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The tree was bear, the stockings were empty, the milk and cookies were untouched, and there was not a soul in sight. Figures. I rested my chin on the railing.

But suddenly, I heard the bell again. This time I turned to look at the doorway to the kitchen. The light was on in there, and there was a shadow falling across the floor.

My eyes widened, and my mouth fell open. I could hardly believe my eyes. A tall, fat, waddling figure with what appeared to be a Santa hat on was walking down my hall. With each step he took, a bell jingled.

But of course, it was too good to be true. The figure's shadow appeared to take off its head, and I heard Dad's voice say, "Alright. Alright, Lynn, you had your water." As soon as I heard the voices, I knew that the shape had simply been my dad carrying Lynn on his shoulders. "Now let's get you upstairs and into bed."

I turned around, scurrying up the stairs before they saw me. I felt so angry and stupid. I had gotten my hopes up for no reason. Again.

But Lynn sounded too distressed to go to bed. "But—but—but, I have to—"

I had just gotten into my bedroom and closed my door shut softly when they reached my doorway. Lynn's room was right across from mine, and I could peer through the keyhole and see her sitting on her bed in her nightgown, looking up at Dad with an expectant face. "Piper said Santa would have to fly faster than the speed of light to get to everyone's house in one night."

"So?" Dad asked as he started to pull up the covers over her.

But Lynn didn't even pause for breath. "And to hold everyone's presents, his sled would have to be bigger than a freighter ship!"

"Your sister said that?" Dad repeated. "Well, she was just kidding. She knows there's a Santa."

I bit my lip. I _really_ didn't want Lynn telling Dad what I thought of Santa just yet. I didn't want to disappoint my parents. And they might get angry at me for spoiling Lynn's Christmas.

"She said she wasn't sure. She wasn't sure if Santa was for real," Lynn argued.

Lynn was right. I _had_ said all that stuff. Only because it was true.

"Of course Santa's real. He's as real as Christmas itself," Dad assured.

_So _you_ say,_ I thought.

"But he won't come until you're sound asleep, young lady." It wasn't Dad talking this time; it was Mom. I could see her leaning over Lynn's bed and kissing her on the cheek. "Sweet dreams."

"Santa will be here before you know it," Dad assured Lynn as he and Mom turned off the light and walked out of the room. "So go to sleep." And with that, they closed the door to her room so I couldn't see it anymore. I could just see the Santa hat with the bell on top hanging from Dad's pocket as he turned and walked away down the hall. That must have been the hat on Lynn's head in the kitchen, the stupid hat with the stupid bell.

As I stepped away from the door, doubts clouded my head once more. Dad had said Santa was as "real as Christmas itself." Yet . . .

Just to double-check, I went to the top drawer of my dresser and opened it. There I found a flashlight and every Christmas card, every picture, every story I could ever find of kids "un-bearding" fake Santas. I even had a newspaper clipping of fake Santas going on strike. I nodded to myself as I read, squinting skeptically. Real as Christmas, huh? What was Christmas, then? A fake day?

I then put the stuff down, turned around, and pointed my flashlight at my bookshelf, where I had an encyclopedia collection. I got out the N-P Encyclopedia, set it down on the nightstand, and began flipping pages, balancing the flashlight between my chin and my shoulder. Finally I came across it: "Polar Terra." When I got there, a few words jumped out at me so much that I read them aloud quietly. "Stark, barren, devoid of life."

Just then, I head more footsteps, and my heart started beating wildly. They were two heavy pairs of footsteps on their way to my door. Mom and Dad were coming to check on me!

Quickly I scrambled back into bed. Even though I knew the gig was up, I didn't want to disappoint my parents.

As soon as I had climbed into bed and pulled the blankets over me, I heard the door click open and my parents walk inside. "She's gotta be asleep by now," I heard Dad whisper.

"She used to stay awake all night waiting for Santa," Mom noted, also whispering.

Their voices got louder. I could tell they were right next to my bed now, even though I had my back to them.

"Think those days are just about over," Dad answered.

"Oh, that would be sad if that were true," Mom said.

"Yeah," Dad agreed. "An end of the magic."

My eyes flew open. What did he just say?

"Merry Christmas, sweetheart," I heard Mom whisper. I quickly shut my eyes again as she leaned down and kissed my cheek.

I opened my eyes again as soon as I heard them walking away. I glanced at the crystal by the heater, where I could see their reflections in the doorway. They turned around to look at me before they closed the door. "See, out like a light," Dad told Mom. "An express ship wouldn't wake her up now." And with that, he closed the door.

Once they were gone, I rolled over on my back, looking up at the ceiling blankly. End of the magic? What had Dad meant by that?

Beside me I could hear the clock ticking, and I glanced over. It was 10:20. The least I should do is try to sleep.

I guess I fell asleep. I must have. The last thing I remember was the ticking of the clock, which seemed to lull me into a trance. The next thing I knew, the clock had a stopped. I glanced over at it. It was now five minutes to midnight. And the clock had just . . . stopped.

Then, it happened. The entire room started shaking. The crystal leaning against the heater began to clatter against it, the model ship hanging from my ceiling began to shake, my bed and bureau both rattled along the floor, shocking me into sitting up. The cup of pens and pencils on my desk tipped over and spilled on the floor, as did my Santa Claus files.

Outside, I heard a sound very different from ringing bells . . . the sound of crystal-powered engines and the blasting horn of a carrier ship.

Without another thought, I grabbed the robe hanging off my bedpost. The pocket caught on the top and ripped a little, spilling bits of crystal everywhere. (I liked to collect them, see.) But I was in too big of a hurry to worry about that. I stepped into my slippers and ran to the door, opened it, sped down the stairs, and headed out the front door, determined to see what was going on.

I couldn't quite understand what I was seeing at first because it was wrapped in an apron of steam, snowflakes falling lightly around it. Finally the steam cleared enough to make the ship out. It was definitely a carrier ship. On either side were two large pontoon-like engines that made up most of the ship. The main body of the ship had a long runway that led to the bridge that had quarters in floors stacked above and below it. In front of the bridge was an outdoor deck.

The ship had landed right in front of my house on its three wheels. The plank had come down, and standing there at the bottom of the plank was a Merb in a smart suit. Which was weird to me. I wasn't used to seeing Merbs. This one looked quite fidgety, but then I had heard they were all that way. "All aboard!" he called into the night air. "All aboard!"

I ran up to him, wanting to ask what was going on and why he was here. No ships were supposed to dock on Christmas Eve or Christmas, and they certainly weren't supposed to land in the middle of neighborhoods.

"Well," the Merb said when he saw me, "are you coming? Or are you going to stand here until you acquire thermal paralysis from the cold?"

"Uh, well . . ." I honestly didn't know how to answer that last question. "Where is this ship going?"

"Where is it going?" the Merb repeated. "Where is it _going_? Why, Polar Terra, of course! This is the Condor Express!" He gestured to the ship above us with a hint of pride. "She goes there every Christmas Eve!"

I stared at him incredulously. "Polar Terra?" I repeated.

The Merb rolled his eyes. "Oh," he said, "I see." He handed me his crystal-powered lantern. "Hold this, please. Wait!" He snatched it back as I reached for it and glared at me through narrow, suspicious eyes. "Are your hands sanitized?"

"No," I said, baffled and slightly offended by the question.

The Merb sighed wearily and handed me the lantern anyway. "You kids are going to be the death of me." Then he reached into his suit and pulled out a clipboard with a list on it. "Piper," he read my name aloud. He held the clipboard out for me to see. "Is this you?"

"Yeah, that's me," I answered, not quite sure why he had my name on a list and a little frightened because of it.

"Let's see," the Merb said, clearing his throat as he looked at the list himself. "No photo with a department-store Santa this year. No letter to Santa. And made your sister put out the milk and cookies." The Merb shook his head as he put the clipboard back. "Sounds to me like this is your crucial year." He leaned over and looked me right in the eye. "If I were you, I'd think about climbing on board. Unless you want to suffer years and years of terrible regret that will make you wish you had never lived. Of course, you might meet horrible, terrifying doom if you do climb on board."

And with that cheery thought, he took back his lantern from me, holding the handle in between his thumb and index finger so he had to touch as little of it as possible, cringing at touching even as much as he was. He didn't take a good hold of it until after he pulled a spray can out of his suit and sprayed the handle. I'm guessing that would be the disinfectant because he then proceeded to spray my hands before I drew back.

Alright, at least _one_ rumor I'd heard was true. Merbs were weird and paranoid.

Well, I didn't move toward the plank. The Merb was creeping me out too much.

"Come on, come on!" the Merb urged, more like urging my decision rather than urging the actual boarding process. "I have a schedule to keep . . ." He pulled out a watch and grunted in frustration when he looked at it, as if just realizing he was running behind schedule. "Yup, we're doomed," he muttered quietly to himself.

I stepped back. I wasn't sure I wanted to get on. I mean, Polar Terra? Really?

The Merb shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said, turning around and trudging up the plank.

But as I stood there, watching him go, I mulled over his words about regret. And what had Dad said. _End of the magic._ Well, I didn't want the "magic" to end, and if this was part of the magic . . .

"Wait!" I cried just as the Merb reached the interior of the ship. I went running up the plank after him, stopping next to him.

The Merb gestured for me to follow him into the ship. I hesitated but eventually followed. "So you know who I am," I said. "Who are you?"

"Stork," the Merb answered curtly without stopping. "Your pilot."

I held out my hand to shake. "Nice to meet."

"Don't. Touch."

I drew my hand back. "Um, okay."

As I followed him along the dark corridors and up a ladder to higher decks, he said, "Watch out for deck fleas. They're nasty."

I sincerely hoped there were other people inside. I didn't want to spend my whole journey with this freaky guy.

Luckily, it seemed I didn't have to.

As soon as the door opened to the bridge, I was greeted with bright overhead lights and the singing and laughter of a whole bunch of other kids. They were all playing around in groups, talking each other, lounging on the couches around a round table, or simply talking in clusters. Balls, paper, and other objects were being thrown all over the place. I even saw a banana peel fly through the air and heard a chicken squawk somewhere. Having seen Stork's paranoia, I wasn't sure how he put up with this on his bridge.

One group of kids was singing:

"'_Cause that's the way things happen on the Condor Express!_

_Honk, honk, the horn blows. That's the sound of her singing!_

_Blast, blast, the engines roar. Golly, look at her go!_

_If you wonder if we'll get there soon, anybody's guess!_

'_Cause that's the way things happen on the Condor Express!_

_When we get there, we'll scream, 'Yea!'_

_We'll arrive with a BANG, BANG, BANG!_

_BOOM, BOOM, BOOM! Laughing all the way!_

_With a comfy seat and lots to eat, boy, it's just the best!_

_Wish it wouldn't ever have to end!_

_With a little luck, we'll be on time. There's no need to stress._

'_Cause that's the way things happen on the Condor Express!_"

Food? I wasn't sure where that lyric was coming from. Maybe that would come later.

Uncertainly, I took a seat on a chair on the wall. I didn't know any of these people, and it was making me a little uncomfortable.

Next to me, someone looked up. A Wallop kid, by the looks of it. He kind of scared me until he smiled kindly at me. I turned away to look out the frontal window only turn to back and find him still looking at me. It was kind of creepy.

Just then, I heard a voice from someone directly in front of me. "Hey, hey, you!"

I looked up and saw a blond boy with blue eyes almost completely in my face. "Yeah, you!" he said. "You just got here, didn't you? Do you like hard core rock?" he asked excitedly.

"No," I said at once.

"Soccer?"

"No?"

"Spraying silly string on people?"

"Um . . . no."

"Watching TV?"

"Why are you asking me all this?"

"Because I want to." He studied me. "Oh, I know _your_ type. You like _books_, don't you?" He said "books" as if they were something disgusting.

"Why, yes," I answered indignantly. "Yes, I do."

"Nerd."

"Hey!"

"Leave her, alone, Finn," the Wallop said, stepping up to us.

The blond boy, Finn, sniffed in a grumpily. "I was just asking."

Just then I felt the engines start, the ship rumbling. I looked over toward the helm and saw Stork there, pulling some levers. Slowly the Condor Express lifted off the ground, and I could hear the wheels folding in.

"I always feel like he's kidnapping us or something," Finn said. "He's kind of creepy."

Even though I agreed with him, the way Finn said it made it sound so mean that I felt the need to defend Stork. "I don't think he's that bad. He's just . . . eccentric."

Finn wrinkled his nose. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're not that smart, are you?" I retorted in irritation.

"Someone's got a temper," he grumbled. He looked back toward the helm at "creepy" Stork. "Where would a creepy Merb take a whole bunch of kidnapped kids?"

"He's not kidnapping us," the Wallop said. "This is a magic ship he's driving. He's taking us to Polar Terra!"

Finn huffed. "Yeah, right!"

The Wallop shook his head. "Don't mind him."

Despite being a Wallop, this guy seemed nice enough. I leaned toward him, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "Are we really going to Polar Terra?"

At this, the Wallop broke out into a wide grin, nodding vigorously. "Isn't it great?"

I wasn't sure. I was starting to (grudgingly) admit that I saw Finn's point.

"I'm Junko, by the way," the Wallop said, holding out a hand.

"Piper," I answered back. His huge hand swallowed mine in a firm, almost painful handshake.

Just then, I realized the ship had stopped moving. We were hovering above the terra now. "Okay," Stork called out, "next stop, here we come!"

And with that, the Condor Express shot off into the night sky, taking me and the rest of these kids with it.


	2. Chapter 2: Helping Hands Gone Array

Author's Notes: I've had two reviews. TWO! Come on, y'all, give me a little more than that!

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><p><span>Chapter 2: Helping Hands Gone Array<span>

We hadn't been traveling long before we came to Terra Atmosia to pick up some kids. While we were landed, Finn shouted, "Herplosheimer's! Herplosheimer's!"

All the kids cheered and ran toward the window. I lingered a little bit, but even I had to admit I was interested in seeing the world's best and biggest toy store.

Stork, however, was in distress. "No! Keep your grubby hands off the window! I just cleaned it! You'll get hand sansies on it!"

"Uh, what are hand sansies?" Junko asked innocently.

"They crawl around on your hands, gradually eating away at your flesh."

That silenced pretty much everyone around us. Some of us were giving Stork weird looks.

Most, however, were looking at Herplosheimer's toy store.

They had their Christmas display out. There were fake presents wrapped up with mechanical elves "working" on others. Along with the display were real toys, including dolls, blocks, skimmer models, and spinning tops.

"Dude, look at all those presents!" Finn exclaimed. His nose was almost pressed up against the glass. "I want all of 'em!"

His buddy Junko, on the other hand, wasn't being so selfish and annoying. "It's so Christmassy and cozy and pretty!" he exclaimed.

However, I had my eyes on one thing in that display. In it, I could see Santa Claus putting presents under a tree. Every time he turned around, it was possible to see the steel wheel in his back, part of his gears.

I shook my head. Like every Santa I had ever seen, this mechanical Santa was a fake. And people actually expected us to believe this stuff?

Just then, I heard Stork cry, "Tickets! Tickets! Unless you want to see horrible, unmistakable doom!"

Well, that got everyone off the window. Everyone got back in their usual places and started digging in their pockets.

Ticket? I suddenly felt a fearful flush in my face. I didn't have a ticket!

So of course, Stork had to come to me first. "Ticket," he said curtly, brandishing a hole puncher. It looked like some sort of dangerous weapon in _his_ hands.

I shook my head at him. I had no ticket. I _never_ had a ticket for this ship.

"Try your pocket," Stork told me.

I dug into my pocket only to find the hole I had torn in it when I had dashed out of the house.

Stork rolled his eyes in exasperation. "The _other_ pocket."

"Well, you didn't exactly _specify_," I answered back moodily. I knew that wasn't what I should have said, but really, he didn't have to make me look stupid!

I dug into my other pocket . . . and froze. Slowly I pulled out a stiff piece of paper and stared at it. It was a ticket! And the most beautiful ticket I had ever seen! It was pure gold in color with a beautiful, metallic sheen. On one side it had a picture of the Condor Express. On the other side, it said, "Condor Express," and below that, "ROUND TRIP." Below that, at the bottom middle was a symbol of a hawk taking wing, the same symbol I had seen in blue painted on either side of the Condor Express and done in red on the round table.

Stork snatched the ticket out of my hands before I was done examining it. "Thank you, ma'am." He then proceeded to spray my beautiful ticket with disinfectant before finally hole punching it. He punched it so fast that I could hardly see what he was doing. Little golden dots fluttered in a cloud around us until he was finally done. Then he handed the ticket back to me.

Just as he did that, another kid was heading toward something. Finn had spotted him. "Hey, watch out, there!" he called, diving in after him. The kid was headed for a lever, and Finn seemed determined to beat him to it.

Stork's ears stood on end at the sound of that, and he squeaked. "Don't touch that!" he cried. "That is not a toy! You'll doom us all if you lay a single finger . . . !"

I, however, tuned them out while I looked at what Stork had done to my ticket. I held it up in the air, staring at the patterns of holes. On one end he had made a series of holes that formed the letter B. On the other end he had made the letter E.

"Boy, that wise guy sure likes to show off with that ticket punch."

I groaned when I heard the voice. Finn had come back over.

Finn shoved the ticket in my face. "Look what he did to mine!"

As if I cared. He held it sideways, anyway, so that I was tilting my head in order to try to read it.

"L E," Finn told me. "What the heck does that mean?"

"How should I know?" I retorted.

By this time, Stork appeared to have gotten everyone's tickets and was planning on taking us to the next stop.

We headed to Terra Greemus next. A bunch of hippies got on. Even though they were in their pajamas like the rest of us, their clothes were very loud, and they all smelled kind of . . . strange. If you got anywhere near one of them, the conversation would either turn to saving the environment or free love.

I care about the wild lands of Atmos, too, but my tolerance has limits. I stayed as far away from them as possible. And I wasn't the only one. A lot of us avoided them; even Finn didn't both to pester them.

A couple more stops meant a couple more kids. On one dusty mining terra, we picked up a kid named Chuckie, who seemed able to pester Finn as much as Finn pestered everyone else.

On the next terra, the most annoying boy I ever met came on, even worse than Finn. He had black hair and huge glasses, as well as rather large, chubby middle. When he first got on, he blinked at me owlishly and said, "Do you know what kinda ship this is?"

"What?" I repeated, totally bewildered.

"It's a magic ship!" Junko answered him, just as he told me earlier.

"Actually," the boy said, "it's a . . ."

He began rattling off some sort of model and make name that even I couldn't follow. And his date for its creation: about 120 years ago.

Old ship.

"I'm Noob," he said once he was done.

"Piper," I told him graciously. But I made a point of losing him in the crowd.

However, as we started toward the next terra, I started noticing that we weren't going north but rather west. "Stork, I thought we were going to Polar Terra?"

"We are," Stork answered. "But I had to go all the way south first, and as you know, Cyclonia has conquered the Northern Kingdoms, and so we're doing a little bit of . . . _skimming_ . . . in order to avoid certain doom."

"But this is a magic ship," I argued. "Why would wars disturb you?"

"We may be magic," Stork answered back, "but we're very much real. And Cyclonians tend to have a 'shoot now, ask questions later' policy. Makes getting to their terras difficult."

"You pick up Cyclonians?" I was shocked.

"Aren't they, like, all on the naughty list?" Finn's the one who asked that. I seethed. He was standing right behind me.

"No, they're not," Stork grumbled back irritably to Finn. "Cyclonians celebrate Christmas, too, just like the rest of the Atmos."

Well, you can't keep calling a guy creepy when he says something that accepting.

So soon we dipped into the outer edges of Cyclonian territory. Stork assured me that we would leave after this one stop but that we'd had several other "dips" into the territory before we finally shot on north.

I was peering out the ship as we landed on the terra. It was a sad place. Most of it seemed burned or destroyed. The entire place seemed gray and full of desolation. I wasn't sure what I was expecting of a Cyclonian terra, but this wasn't it.

Stork took the intercom down, like he always did when we made a stop. "Terra Nimbus," he announced.

We landed in a clearing just outside of town, next to what appeared to be some sort of dump or maybe a small landfill.

I looked around. In Atmosia, we had stopped in a street; in Greemus, it had been a neighborhood much like mine. But this place . . . who could possibly live here?

All the same, Stork lowered the plank and went down, calling out, "All aboard!" as he did at every stop. Then he stood rigid and waited.

I went out onto the deck to look. Though I'd heard awful things about Cyclonians, I was interested to see the real damage. I knew Terra Nimbus was a conquered terra. Many of the people who lived here still didn't even think of themselves as Cyclonian, even though they were forced to live under the Cyclonian government.

At first I saw no movement anywhere, even when Stork called, "All aboard!" once again.

But then there was a rustling sound. It was coming by a dumpster settled near the side of a building. A little furry animal, monkey-like in shape with a rabbit-like head, jumped out and scurried into the open. What caught my eye about the creature was that it wore clothes. It must be a pet. But where was its owner?

In answer, a boy came running out of the darkness, stopping next to the animal and panting, his hands on his knees. One look at him, and I wished I had stayed inside and minded my own business. He seemed covered from head to toe in filth, and his face was red with cold. His jacket could hardly be called sufficient for winter; it looked more like a spring rain jacket. As for his hair, well, it was a little nuts, a crazy mop of red. I kind of wondered whether it was due to lack of care or whether it wouldn't even cooperate under normal, clean circumstances. It certainly didn't look tamable from here.

Stork seemed unfazed by the boy's appearance. On the contrary, he looked rather relieved that he had finally arrived. The Merb was probably thinking about his schedule again. "Well?" he asked the boy. "Are you coming?"

The sound of his voice made the little animal next to the boy stand up on its hind legs and sniff at Stork questionably. The boy responded, but he spoke too softly for me to hear from where I was at. He was still huffing as if he'd just run a mile.

The boy must have asked where the ship was going because Stork answered, "Why, to Polar Terra! This is the Condor Express!" And he gestured to the ship. It was his usual speech and his usual emphasis on his awesome ship.

But instead of getting on the ship, like every other kid had done when they heard that speech, the redhead took a page from my book; he took a step back uncertainly.

But unlike with me, Stork didn't seem to want to argue this one. "Suit yourself. You'll probably suffer terrible doom either way." And with that, he turned and walked up the gang plank.

"Don't remind me!" the boy called after him.

Just then, I thought I heard a distant shout. A man. He was saying something like . . . "He went this way!"?

Apparently the boy and his pet had heard it, too. The creature's ears and fur were standing on end, and the boy straightened up at once, his breath catching in his throat. He whirled around.

Just then, two Talons ran out of the darkness toward the ship, one shouting, "There he is!"

The redhead turned back to the ship and sprinted for the plank. "Never mind!" he yelled up to Stork. "We're coming!"

By "we," he must have meant his animal, too. The furry thing squawked in alarm and scrambled after the boy when it realized he was heading into the ship.

I came back in, not quite sure what to make of the whole scene I had just witnessed. _Well,_ I thought, _that was eventful._

I waited for the boy and animal near the door. I couldn't help my curiosity. I mean, what could be more curious then picking up a pitiful-looking kid and his pet on a conquered terra while they were being chased by Talons?

But when Stork walked through the door, the boy he was leading after him hesitated in the doorway. His pet, who seemed to have expected him to keep going, ran right into him and fell over backward.

The boy scanned the crowd with his eyes, and instead of being interested, he seemed to shrink into the corridor behind him. I didn't think he looked all that fearful, just . . . cautious? Nervous? Untrusting? Whatever it was, the boy turned around and headed for a room down the hall. His pet looked out into the bridge and whimpered as if it wanted to come in where it was warm, but instead it turned and followed its boy.

Stork didn't seem disturbed by the boy and animal going the wrong way. He watched them walk down the hall, seemed to note what room they went in, and then went to the helm to get the intercom. "Okay, kids . . ."

But no one could hear him. They were all talking too loud. I only knew what he was saying because I had followed him over to the helm.

"Hey, kids . . ." Stork tried again. No good. "SHUT UP, YOU LITTLE VERMIN!"

Instant silence. Well, that worked.

"THANK YOU!" Stork said, still shouting. Then he cleared his throat pleasantly. "Your attention, please. Are there any Condor Express passengers in need of refreshment?"

Everyone smiled at that and raised their hands excitedly, saying, "Me! Me, me!"

"I thought so," Stork answered. "Now be forewarned: Watch out for any hasckler venom in your refreshment. Liquefies your bones. No cure."

Everyone stopped cheering at that. Gosh, Stork really did know how to cheer everyone up!

And without saying more, he allowed a number of men dressed in robes to go past him. "Chef Steward, everyone!" Stork called.

Chef Steward looked over all the kids. "Ready for the finest chocolates and candies in the world?"

All the kids cheered at that. Even me. I mean, who wouldn't want that?

The robed men call came out into the aisle, tap dancing right in front of our eyes. "Hot, hot!" they chanted.

"Oh, we got it!" Steward called as he wheeled in the cocoa in a huge, silver thermos.

"Hot, hot!"

"Hey, we got it!"

"Hot, hot!"

"Say, we got it!"

"Hot chocolate!"

Stork lowered his ears as he stood at the helm and drove. "I hate it when they do that singing chant thing," he grumbled.

While they chanted, they began tossing out mugs onto platters held by other waiters. Surprisingly, not a single one fell and broke. These guys were good. And I kind of liked their chanting. It was cheery.

"Hot, hot!"

"Oh, we got it!"

"Hot, hot!"

"So we got it!"

"Hot, hot!"

"Yo, we got it!"

"Hot chocolate!"

The chef continued to chant in an almost rap-like tone:

"_Here we only have on rule:_

_Never, ever let it cool!_

_Keep it cooking in the pot._

_Then you got—_"

"Hot chocolate!" the waiters finished.

Then they began the whole chant over again while they served us all at superfast speed . . . and still dancing!

"Here's where the singing part comes in," Stork warned.

Sure enough, when the chef began his chant for the second time, the waiters began echoing him in song. During this time, they were also serving us chocolate candies with nougat centers as white as snow. It was all so wonderful!

Once the chef and waiters left, we all settled into chairs, couches, on tables, and even on the floor, anywhere we could sit down. Hot chocolate has a way of making everyone sleepy.

The only ones still talking were Noob and Finn. Big surprise.

At least Noob's conversation was somewhat intelligent. He was telling the guy next to him about Emperor Shag of the Sixth Dynasty. "He would drink 50 quarts of hot chocolate a day," he said. "It was thick as mud and red because he put chilly pepper in it instead of sugar. Get it? _Hot _chocolate?"

"How do you know that?" Finn retorted. "That's not true!"

It so _was_ true. I knew it from a book I read. But I wasn't about to jump into a conversation with those two.

Just then, I noticed Junko getting something out from under his chair. He was trying to be discrete, but because of his size, he wasn't very good at that.

As I watched, I saw him draw a cup of hot chocolate out from under his chair. Apparently he had stolen it. I immediately assumed he would drink it. After all, he'd tried to go back for seconds three times during the serving; the waiters had to literally push him away from their thermos of chocolate and platters of candies.

But he didn't consume it. Instead, he got up and started heading toward the corridor.

"Where are you going with that?" I asked him.

"It's for him," Junko answered. He gestured down the hallway with his head, and I immediately knew he was talking about the redhead with the animal.

"I don't think we're supposed to leave the bridge," I told him with concern. He was such a nice guy. I didn't want him to get in trouble.

Of course, Finn had to put his own donation. "Yeah, you can't just go wandering around a strange guy's ship!"

Junko shrugged. "I think I'll be okay." And with that, he started toward the door again.

"Are you sure?" I asked in concern.

"Yeah," he answered. And with that, he disappeared down the hall.

Just when he had left, I glanced over at his seat. "Oh, no," I said. "He forgot his ticket! It hasn't been punched!"

"Just leave it there," Finn said. "He'll find it."

I looked around at all the people in the room. "Honestly, Finn," I said, "anyone can lose something in here! It's crazy!" I looked down the hallway. "I better take this to him."

Finn shook his head. "You're gonna get us all in trouble, ya know!"

I ignored him and headed out into the hall.

As I went, I noticed an open window in what appeared to be a kitchen. The air was cold and frosty outside, and it seemed stupid to have the window hanging open. So without thinking, I went to close it.

No sooner had I gotten within a foot of it when I felt the ticket slip through my fingers. "No!" I cried. But it was too late. The ticket went soaring out into the night air.

I'd lost Junko's ticket!


	3. Chapter 3: Just a Dream?

Author's Notes: Sorry about the wait. I've been traveling. I knew I could update from my destination (which I'm at now), but obviously I couldn't do much in between here and there. But anyway, I'm here now, and I'm going to be here until . . . Friday. So I've got to be done by Friday. If I don't, this'll have to run on after Christmas.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 3: Just a Dream?<span>

I just couldn't believe my luck. Frantically I climbed up toward the window to see if I could spot the ticket. All I could see was a falcon flying a distance away. No ticket in sight.

I didn't know what to do. All I could do was stand there and stare out at the cold night air rushing by. Whatever would I do? I had just gotten Junko into big trouble!

Just my luck, I could hear voices behind me: Stork's and Junko's.

"What're you doing back _here?_" Stork demanded.

"Uh . . . I was giving him some hot chocolate . . ."

I turned around, and there were Stork and Junko, talking in front of the kitchen door. Neither of them seemed to have realized I was there.

Stork raised an eyebrow and asked, "Did the young man in the back get refreshment?"

Junko shook his head.

Stork seemed to soak that in, then said, "Alright." Then he raised an eyebrow at him. "Hey, I never punched your ticket."

Junko started digging in his pockets. "I had it somewhere . . ."

Stork's voice caught an edge again. "Are you telling me you _lost_ your ticket?"

Oh, no!

Junko looked flustered. "Well, I . . . I might have left it on the bridge."

I stepped forward at once, announcing my presence. "He didn't lose his ticket. I did!" I looked at Junko apologetically. "You left it on a chair on the bridge. I was trying to return it to you, but as I was coming I saw that open window," I pointed toward the window behind me, "and I was going to close it and . . . the wind blew it out of my hand."

Stork put his hands on his hips and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling as if praying for patience.

I had to fix this somehow. Quickly I dug into my own pocket. "You can have my ticket," I told Junko, pulling it out of my pocket and holding it out for him.

Stork made a horrified squeak and snatched the ticket out of my hands just before Junko was about to grab it. Then he held it up to my face, gesturing to it, his voice shaking with absolute fury. "These tickets," he growled, "are _not transferable!_"

I took the ticket back, my heart pounding. If I couldn't give Junko a ticket, how could I possibly fix this?

Stork turned to Junko. "You'll have to come with me, man," he said. He put a hand on Junko's shoulder, looked me right in the eye and shook his head disapprovingly, and then led Junko away down the hall. Junko looked back with a fearful expression on his face.

This was bad. And it was all my fault!

Quickly I went back to the bridge, not knowing what else to do. I had caused quite a problem.

"Hey, you," Finn called once I was back, "where's Junko?"

When he asked, I felt close to tears. "I lost his ticket!" I blurted. "Stork's really mad! He said Junko would have to come with him."

Finn's eyes widened. "He said _what?_ You know what the means, don't ya?"

I shook my head. I had no idea what that meant.

"He might, like, throw him off the ship or something!" Finn gasped. He had gotten to his feet now, looking truly frightened. "He might give him a parachute or something, but if he doesn't have a ticket, he can't be on the ship!"

Finn's words made perfect sense. "Oh, no!" I said. "Oh, no, oh, no . . ."

"Finn! There you are!"

Finn turned around to see Chuckie running at him. "Oh, great," Finn muttered.

"I found you, I found you, I found you!" Chuckie cried, jumping up and down. "I looked for you all over!"

Finn raised an eyebrow at that and exchanged a glance with me. We were both thinking the same thing. The bridge wasn't that large. Where else could Finn have gone?

"I looked on that side of the bridge and by the table and by the helm and by the window and in the bathroom—" Finn actually cringed at the "bathroom" part, "—and then I went out on the deck and . . . Oh, Finn! I found _this_ on the deck! It was floating in the wind!" He held it up as he spoke. "Doesn't it look just like the—"

I couldn't believe it. "Junko's ticket!" I ran forward and snatched it out of Chuckie's hands. "Oh, thank you, Chuckie, _thank you!_"

Chuckie raised an eyebrow at me. "Uh . . . your welcome?"

I held the ticket up to show Finn. "I gotta go after them!" I said it once. I spun around and headed back out into the hallway.

"Hey, wait!" Finn called, but I ignored him.

I ran down the hall in the direction I saw Stork and Junko go. Where could they be? They had to be here somewhere . . .

I checked every room as I ran until I finally got to a point where the hallways diverged just under a hatchway to the roof. I stopped and glanced around wildly. There was no sign of either of them. Which way did they go?

When I glanced to my right, however, I noticed that I was looking into on the sleeping quarters. And in there was the redhead. Maybe he knew where they went!

I ran in there as fast as I could, sliding to a stop in front of him. "Where'd they go?"

The boy had been sitting on the bed, looking down at his feet in either dejection or plain exhaustion, I couldn't tell which. When I spoke, he looked up at me with a bewildered expression. "What?"

"What happened to them?" I asked. "The pilot and the Wallop?"

He stared at me blankly, blinking slowly.

"Please!" I begged. I held up the ticket to show him how serious this was. "The Wallop's in big trouble! You've gotta help me!"

The redhead continued to look at me blankly for a moment, and I worried he wouldn't speak to me at all. Then suddenly he stood up and said, "Then what are we waiting for? Come on!"

Next thing I knew, he was leading me out into the hallway again and looking both directions. "There," he said, pointing.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "The hatchway? But that leads up to—"

"—the roof," he agreed.

I could hardly believe it. "Why would they . . . ?"

The redhead shrugged. "Dunno," he admitted. "Just what I saw." He looked around. "Where's Radarr?"

"Huh?"

"My friend. He's usually right behind me."

Oh. The pet-thing. "He wasn't in the room when I found you," I admitted.

The boy looked worried about that. "I hope he hasn't gotten into trouble." And with that, he started to climb the ladder toward the closed hatch.

I started climbing after him. "So . . . what's the problem?" he asked.

"Stork thought Junko—the Wallop—lost his ticket," I explained, "but I found it."

The boy had made it to the top and was opening the hatch now. "So why the rush?" he asked as he unscrewed the wheel.

"I'm afraid he might throw Junko off the ship or something without the ticket!" I admitted.

The boy stopped and looked down at me. "Stork? Throw a kid off the ship?"

"With a parachute," I added.

"Still," the boy said, "I know he's weird, but he didn't strike me as _that_ type. And believe me," he muttered, "I would know." He started at the hatch again. "But if it means that much to ya, we'll find 'em."

I breathed a sigh of relief. What a great guy. He didn't even know me or Junko, and he was braving the roof of the ship just to help out.

He finally got the hatch open and then looked at me, subconsciously pulling his thin jacket tighter across his chest. "Well," he said, "here goes nothing."

Next thing I knew, he had disappeared into the cold night air.

It was my turn. I climbed up the ladder and stuck my head out.

Gosh, it was cold! The icy wind blew against my face with such ferocity! I was very happy to have such a warm robe, as thick as the thickest fleece. I sort of wished it was covering my face now; my face stung badly at the first slap of the wind and then grew almost completely numb.

As I climbed out of the hatch completely, gasping as my fingers touched the cold ice coating on the ship, the boy turned and hauled me up as best he could. "Alright there?"

"Yeah?" I told him once I was up. "You?"

He nodded. "Just . . . chilly, isn't it?"

I had my fleece robe. The boy wasn't quite so lucky. I knew from the start his wasn't a winter coat, but it had looked somewhat doable when facing him in the warm confines of the ship; out here, in the frosty, speeding winds, his jacket seemed like a sick joke.

Pulling the jacket still tighter around himself, he didn't seem deterred. He looked around and then said, "There!"

I could just make out the shadows of a Wallop and a Merb in the light of a crystal lantern. "That's them!" I said. "Hey!" I shouted after them. "Hey! I found your ticket!" I waved the ticket in the wind, but the silhouettes didn't stop. "Wait!" The light was fading away in the darkness. "Hey! Wait! I have your ticket!"

"I don't think they heard you," the boy said. "Come on. We'll catch them."

He took hold of my arm, more to keep me steady on the slippery surface of the ship then anything, I think, and together we started off up the roof of the Condor Express. The wind slapped our faces with dozens of snowflakes a second, and we were constantly blinking them out of our eyes. I couldn't feel my face or my toes. The boy was constantly pulling at his jacket, as though if he put enough of the fabric in front of him it might finally offer him some protection. He should have a warm robe like mine, I thought. That might be a good Christmas present for him.

There was a light up ahead of us. "See?" the boy said confidently, sounding breathless. "I knew we'd catch them!"

But when we got closer, we could both see that this was _not_ who we were looking for.

The light wasn't coming from a lantern but from a crystal staff lying on the ground, its multi-colored crystal tip glowing brightly. As we drew closer, we saw that there was a person with it, but it was no person we knew. The stranger wore a tight-fitting outfit. His shoes were narrow, he wore pant leggings, and his top had spiky shoulder covers but no sleeves. His gloves ran all the way up to his elbows, and the tips of his fingers on his gloves were pointy, long, and sharp-looking, as if he had long, talon-shaped nails. He wore a spiky hood that tapered off like a beak in front of his nose. The entire outfit was loud and multi-colored, reminding me a little bit of the hippies downstairs. He had a short beard that was red-violet. He sat on a chair in front of his staff and seemed to be strumming on a guitar, singing something about, "_Fly high with the sky!_"

As soon as the boy and I stopped in front of him, perplexed, the man looked up. "Oh, high kiddos! Well, look at that! Some of the kids actually found me! Oh, you two are adorable!"

The boy and I exchanged glances. What in the world . . . ?

"Oh, it's not me you're looking for, is it? Well, what can I do for you two young'uns, eh?"

"Uh . . ." I said uncertainly, "I'm looking for a . . . a guy . . ."

The strangely-dressed man nodded toward the boy. "What's wrong with that one?"

Despite the cold and his light jacket, I saw the redhead blush at the comment.

"He's a Wallop," I defined. "I have his ticket." I held it up for the man to see.

"Oh, wow, look at that, girly," he said, standing up and grabbing his staff as he did so before snatching the ticket from me. "Look at that. An official, authentic, genuine ticket to ride! Very important object there, very important." He handed it back to me. "Better keep that safe, darling. I would recommend somewhere no one would look: a bra, in underwear—"

Now it was my turn to blush. The redhead looked away in genuine embarrassment.

"—or your shoe. Experience shows those are the safest places."

The boy blinked at that. "But you said bra. How can you have experience—?"

"Okay," I said, interrupting that awful question before it got too far. "Good advice." I slipped the ticket into my shoe and then stood up. "We really should be looking for the Wallop . . ."

"Not that I have much use for tickets," the man said as if neither of us had spoken. "No, I ride for free, sista! Oh, yeah, I hop aboard this carrier anytime I please! I own this ship, really." He put a finger to his lip thoughtfully. "It's like I'm the king of this ship," he said gleefully. "King Arygyn of the Con Ex. In fact, I'd say I'm the king of Polar Terra!"

Both us stared at him in astonishment. King of Polar Terra? This guy was nuts, right?

"Oh, where are my manners?" he said, flashing his brightly-colored fingernails at us. "Sit down, you two. Take a load off!"

Not knowing what we should do, the boy and I did as we were told and sat down in front of him.

"Oh, dear, dear," the man—Arygyn?—said, "you look a little cold there, skipper."

I glanced at the boy next to me. He wasn't hugging himself or anything, but if I stared at him hard enough, I could see he was shivering.

"Here, have some Joe, kid," Arygyn said. He took a kettle hanging off his staff—had that even been there before?—and poured a mug for the boy. "Nice hot refreshment," he said, handing it to him. "Perfect for a cold winter's night."

The boy took the "Joe" drink and stared down into it a moment, hesitating. Then he finally took a sip. It must have not been that great, because the next moment he was choking and trying to cough it back up.

I politely declined from the cup held out to me.

Something was bugging me about what Arygyn had said. "What about Santa?" I asked him.

"Santa?" Arygyn repeated.

"Isn't he the king of Polar Terra?"

"Oh, _that_," Arygyn said, flailing his hand again as if to show off his nail. "The big man who is supposed to have that _magic_ sleigh and the ability to fly to every single house on the same freaking night? This guy?" He pulled out a Santa hat—like the kettle, it just seemed to appear—and stuck it on his head. Then he began to "Ho, ho, ho!" while making very robotic movements just like the mechanical Santa in the Christmas display. He laughed as if this was some kind of joke.

I shrank back at that. I was just starting to think Santa might be real. Was Arygyn telling me otherwise?

Arygyn peered at me right in the eye. "So what's your opinion on the big man, since you brought him up?"

I hesitated. "I want to believe," I admitted, "but I—"

"But," he said, "you don't want to be hoodwinked, bamboozled. You don't wanna be led down the primrose path! You don't want to be conned or dupped, have the wool pulled over your eyes. You don't want to be taken for a ride!"

The next thing I knew, he had stamped his staff against the roof of the ship, and the light went out. Both the boy and I jumped up in surprised.

Then Arygyn was standing in front of us again holding his unlit staff. He was still looking right at me. "Seeing is believing, am I right, girly?"

"But what about this ship?" I asked.

"What about it?" Arygyn shot back.

"We're all really going to Polar Terra," I said, ". . . aren't we?"

He leaned forward, still staring me right in the eyes. "Aren't we?"

There was some sort of hint in his voice. "Are you saying that this is all . . . just a dream?" I asked him.

He smirked. "You said it, girly," he exclaimed, winking. "Not me." He snatched the mug of Joe out of the boy's hands and slurped it down in a few gulps. "So," he said, turning back to me, "let's go find that Wallop, shall we?"

But before he walked off, he turned back to us, looking at me again. "One other thing, dearie," he said. "Do you believe in Skeelurs?"

I shook my head. "Those are just myth," I said. "Magical, shape-changing guardians of Atmos? I don't know who came up with that."

Arygyn merely nodded and said, "Interesting." And with that, he started walking off so fast that the boy and I had lost track of him in the darkness before we could follow.

"Wait," I called after him. I started to struggle after him, and the boy followed, hugging himself against the cold. "Wait!"

But Arygyn was gone.

I struggled a little further through the snow before I finally stopped. Arygyn must be right. This _must_ be a dream. "I have to wake up," I said to myself. "Yeah. I have to wake up." I pinched myself. "Wake up, wake up, wake up!" That wasn't working, so I tried slapping myself. "Wake up!" Nothing doing. I fell to my knees and started picking up snow and throwing it in my face. "Wake up! Wake up!"

"Whoa!" the boy said. "Wait a minute!" He pulled me out of the snow. "I don't know about you," he said, "but if you're dreaming, then we're having the same dream."

He had a point there.

Suddenly there was a shout. "Kid! Girly!" We both looked up. It was Arygyn, calling us by his designated pet names for us. We could see the light of his staff headed toward us again. "Get your head out of the clouds, kids! Wake up! There's no sleepwalking on the Condor Express!"

When he came up, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He had a pedal-powered heli-bike. Where in the world had he found a bike?

"That rhino you two were chasing must have already gone on ahead. We gotta get to the bow. Come on, up, kids! On the bike! We got some flyin' to do!"

"The bow?" I asked.

"The front, ya tenderfoot," he said. "We gotta get to the deck on front."

The boy made to climb on, but I grabbed his sleeve. "Are you sure about this?" I hissed to him.

"We don't really have much of a choice, do we?" he said.

"Come on, kids, come on!" Arygyn encouraged.

"What's the hurry?" the boy asked as he climbed on first. I climbed on after him, still unsure about this.

"So many questions, so many questions," Arygyn said lightly. He didn't seem to be grumbling about it; rather, he was beaming as if we were showing him marks of intelligence. "We're about cross quadrants off Polaris Pointe, and tame as it is, Polaris isn't exactly calm air this time of year. The winds are coming in from the north because of expanding air and whatnot. Anyone not anchored to this ship by that time is going to be swept right off the top by the winds. And once you fly off course at Polaris Pointe, you get sucked into the killer storm clouds on all sides. Once got caught in a Polaris gale myself while on a flight. Nearly got swept out, I did. Pulled a few feathers."

"Feathers?" I repeated.

But he didn't seem interested in the subject. "Okay, here we go!"

Next thing I knew, we were up in the air, flying as fast as we could toward the front. Problem was, Arygyn was having to do all the pedaling he could to keep up with the Condor Express, much less outpace it. I wasn't real comfortable with that; I was parked precariously on the back of the bike.

Suddenly I felt the bike bulk, and the next thing I knew, I was flying through the air, screaming.

I thought I was lost for sure. But Arygyn had taken his staff and shoved it in my direction, and I was able to grab onto it at the last moment. I heard him heave on the staff, and the next thing I knew, he had thrown me in front of him on the bike. Then he continued to pedal.

"There's only one trick to this, kids," he said. "When I say 'jump,' you . . . JUMP!"

Next I heard a rustle of feathers behind me, and I glanced back. Arygyn was nowhere to be seen, and a great, multi-colored bird—a Mynall bird—was soaring away from us.

The boy's eyes were wide as saucers. I met his gaze. "Did you see—?"

But he didn't let me finish. He grabbed my hand and pulled me off the bike, shouting, "Jump, remember?"

And then we were falling.


	4. Chapter 4: Look Who's Driving

Author's Notes: Crap. I only have 3 reviewers, and only 2 of them have been regular about it. This poor, unloved fic!

By the way, thank you angel on wings, ShubbaBANG, and Minn-Maigi.

Oh, well, got to get it done by Friday . . . That's the day before Christmas Eve. The Eve of Christmas Eve!

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><p><span>Chapter 4: Look Who's Driving<span>

Something people never think about when they're standing on a deck: how much it hurts to fall on one.

As soon as I hit the deck, I completely had the wind knocked out of me. It took a moment for me to sit up and take in everything. When I did, I found myself on the front deck of the Condor Express just as we were passing by Polaris Pointe. Beside me, the boy seemed shaken, though a bit less disturbed by his fall than I was. If I didn't know any better, from the way he was sitting I would say he'd landed in crouch and fell over on his butt, as opposed to slamming into the darn thing like I did. He looked at him in concern. "You alright?"

"Yeah," I said. I sat up. "Where do you think—?"

A friendly voice answered my unspoken question. "Hello!"

I looked up. There was Junko, dangling off the front of the ship, a rope around his waist to keep him attached. He seemed to be working on screwing in a bolt.

Stork was on the deck, too. He looked me and the redhead over as if we were aliens. "When random kids start falling from the sky, you know you have mindworms," he muttered, probably to himself.

I decided I was going to ignore that.

I looked up at Junko in disbelief. "I thought you got thrown off!" I said. "What are you doing?"

Junko beamed at me with one of those huge, sweet grins of his. "Stork asked me help him seal off an air leak. Says he needed someone as strong as me to secure it."

I looked over at Stork and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm supervising," he explained in a bored tone.

The boy glanced up at Junko and then looked over at Stork. "But if you're out here, who's driving the ship?"

It was Stork's turn to raise an eyebrow at him. "Don't you know?"

The boy and I glanced into the frontal window to see the helm. There, with his hands on the wheel, was none other than the redhead's furry little friend.

The redhead pressed his face up against the glass. "Radarr?"

The creature smiled when it saw him and waved happily.

The redhead smiled. "You little con artist, you!"

I turned to Stork. "You let _that thing_ drive?"

The redhead glared at me. "He has a name!"

Stork nodded in answer to my question. "He was very . . . _persuasive_."

I looked back inside and saw Radarr growling viciously at a little girl who dared to try to touch one of the levers. Small as he was, he looked absolutely frightening showing all his teeth and raising his hackles. I could see why Stork might find him _persuasive_.

The redhead shook his head. "I didn't even know he could drive a carrier ship."

As if to show off, Radarr started speeding the ship up.

Stork rolled his eyes. "_Please_ tell that animal to slow down."

"Alright," the boy said. He turned back to the window and shouted. "Slow it down, Radarr! Watch the speed!"

Radarr nodded and was about to just about to do that when suddenly . . .

I couldn't believe my eyes. A white hen had appeared out of nowhere and was attacking Radarr with . . . kisses?

Whatever happened exactly, Radarr was scurrying away in a flurry of feathers, and the hen was running after him.

"Radarr!" Aerrow shouted in desperation.

Just then, Finn had come up to the helm and seemed to be looking at something as if to say, _Hey, what's this do?_ I'm sure he said that, but we couldn't hear anything above a shout from this side of the glass.

Stork's eyes widened when Finn reached out a hand toward the helm. "Don't touch that!" he yelled.

But Finn did touch the helm. In fact, he pushed it. The _Condor_ shot off so fast that the redhead and I about lost our balance.

"Great Atmos," Stork muttered. "We're doomed."

"What?" I repeated in alarm.

"The Condor Express won't respond once she hits this speed," Stork told us, taking great gasps of air as if trying not to panic. "She'll keep speeding up until she tears herself apart!"

"There has to be a way!" the boy said determinedly, slamming his fist into his palm.

"Well . . ." Stork said, thinking, "if we could _somehow_ deploy the landing gear," he pointed downward, "we could create some drag, but the controls are shot. We'd have to do it manually. We could also try the safety chutes, but the circuits have been fried for about ten years, so that'd mean turning the release knobs on the outside of the ship." He held up a finger. "If we do all that, there's a very good chance," he slumped, "that we still won't make it."

"Worth a shot for me," said the boy. "We got to try."

Junko untied himself and hopped down, nearly slamming against the window with the wind force. "I'll get the landing gear!" he said. And with that, he ran inside.

"I'll get the safety chutes!" the redhead called. He grabbed the wrench Junko had been using. Next thing I knew, he had jumped the railing and was crawling down the side of the ship toward the pontoon-like engines.

"Wait!" I called after him. Didn't he know how dangerous that was?

Stork was obviously trying to take charge again. He pointed at me. "You," he said, "inside!"

"No!" I said. "Not while he's down there!" I pointed at the redhead, who had managed to make it down to the pontoon platforms.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Stork said. "You've known each other, what, fifteen minutes?"

He had a pointed. I didn't even know the boy's name. But I couldn't just abandon him! He wouldn't abandon me when I needed him.

"Fine, get under the safety bar," Stork said, steering me toward the railing.

"What should _we_ do?" I asked as I gripped the railing while Stork secured us both with the rope Junko had been using.

"Well, considering the fact that we have lost control of the ship, we are standing totally exposed on the front of the ship, the ship is accelerating beyond stability, and we are rapidly approaching the Great Expanse, from which no ship has ever returned, I suggest . . . we hold on tightly."

Just then, Finn came running out. "I didn't mean to do it, I swear . . . What's going on?"

I spun around on him. This is all _his _fault, after all! "You _idiot!_"

"Hey, I was just—"

"_A mountain!_" Stork yelled.

At that moment, I looked ahead and saw, just as Stork had said, we were headed straight into a mountain.

I looked down at where the redhead was crawling around on his belly. He had already gotten one knob, maybe more, and he was working on another one with the wrench.

Just then, the ship jerked to the side, just scraping the mountain as it went past. I looked back into the frontal window. Radarr had gotten back to the helm just in time and had pulled the ship's wheel over with all his might.

But unfortunately, the sudden jerk sent Finn, who was _not_ secured to the railing, skidding into it and off the side. He was screaming like a girl and nearly went over when Stork had untied us and run and grabbed him by his pajama shirt. "Gotcha!"

But rather than securing Finn, Stork just seemed inclined to go over with him. I jumped in and grabbed the back of Stork's suit, but we were still sliding.

Suddenly I felt something pulling on my robe, and we stopped sliding. I looked back and couldn't believe my eyes. It was Arygyn! He put a finger to his lips, asking me to be quiet about his presence. They he pulled us all back on board.

As soon as we were safe, I looked back at him again. He winked at me and transformed into a Mynall bird . . . right before my eyes! In a flutter of wings, he was gone.

"Good thinking on your part, young lady," Stork told me. He apparently had not seen the bird.

I wanted so badly to tell him . . . but would he believe me!

Just then, I felt another jolt, this time from below the ship. "The landing gear!" Stork said.

"Junko did it!" I exclaimed.

Finn looked at me in confusion. "Junko?"

Just then I heard a yell from below us. It was snatched in the wind before I could make it out, but I knew the redhead had yelled something. He was turning another knob, and he gave his wrench one last yank.

The affect was immediate here as well. The safety chutes on the back of the ship opened up at once, flinging wide like two large, three-feathered wings. The _Condor_ came to a sudden, sliding halt, sending Stork, Finn, and me into the railing.

The redhead was sent falling off the ship. "Oh no!" I yelled.

There was a moment of stunned silence from us. Was he . . . ?

Then we heard another yell from a deep, familiar voice. "I got him!"

I smiled. It was Junko! He must have caught him.

"I'm okay!" another voice yelled, this one the redhead's. It was such a relief to hear!

Just to be sure everything was okay on the bridge, we all looked back at Radarr, who smiled shakily and gave us a weak thumbs up.

"Well," Stork said, dusting himself off, "that is more like."

Minutes later, Junko and the redhead were back up on the deck with us. "What'd you do?" Finn asked Junko at once, still not quite caught up on what was going on.

"I had to jump on the landing gear," Junko said. "It came undone eventually."

When I saw the redhead unscathed, I smiled broadly at him. He shrugged. "The Wallop caught me," he said.

Stork raised an eyebrow at as all, his hands on his hips. "So, what are you troublemakers doing here in the first place?" he asked me and the redhead.

"Oh!" I exclaimed. In all the excitement, I nearly forgot. I slipped off my slipper. "I found your ticket!"

"You did?" Junko exclaimed. He snatched the tickets out of my hand. "Oh, thank you!" he yelled, smothering me in a bone-crushing hug.

I felt like I was being embraced by a bog howler. "Can't . . . breathe!" I wheezed.

He set me down at that and looked at his ticket again. "I can't believe you found my ticket."

Stork stepped forward. "Found your ticket, eh? Well then, by all means," he pulled out his hole puncher, "tickets, please. And you, too, young man," he added, turning to the redhead.

Immediately the boy dug into his coat pocket and pulled out his ticket.

Stork took both tickets and did his usual punch-at-super-high-speed. Then he handed the tickets back.

Junko took his and peered at it. "I S?"

The redhead got his back, too. "L E?"

"Hey," Finn said, coming up behind us, "just like me!"

"Well, come on, kids!" Stork said. "Let's go in where it's warm, before the thermal paralysis sets in on us all."

Junko and Finn went in first, Junko with his arm around his buddy's shoulder, hurriedly telling him everything that had happened.

The redhead and I were about to follow him when I felt the need to take his arm and stop him. "Hey," I said, "thank you, for what you did back there."

"Oh," the boy said, as if he hadn't thought twice about it, "it's nothing."

"I'm Piper," I said, holding out a hand to shake.

He took it. "Aerrow," he told me.

"Pleased to meet you. Really."

It was while shaking his gloved hand that I noticed he was shivering. Without thinking, I took off my robe and put it over him.

He looked down as if embarrassed by that, but he didn't remove it. "Thanks," he muttered.

"It's nothing."

* * *

><p>Our next stop was Terra Blizzaris, which I thought was strange because I thought Blizzaris was in the north. Apparently this was a new Blizzaris.<p>

The people who came on were absolutely _crazy_, especially the boys. In matter of minutes, they were hanging from the ceiling, whooping and hollering and being the general idiots.

"These guys are crazy," I whispered to Aerrow.

Aerrow, however, was grinning from ear to ear. "I know," he said, "isn't it great?"

Radarr, who was perched on his shoulder, chirped in agreement.

Boys!

But one of the Blizzarians had come up behind me, this one a girl. "Yup," she said, "my boys can be kinda crazy."

I stared at her. "_Your_ boys?"

"Yeah," she said. She held out a hand. "Name's Suzy-Lu. That's my gang there."

I shook her hand and smiled at her, thinking these Blizzarians might not be so bad after all.

Just then we all heard, "Hey, Aerrow!"

We looked around. It was Gareth. The kid had been following Aerrow around for some time. Once we had come back inside, Aerrow and Radarr had decided to stay on the bridge with the rest of us, even after Aerrow had warmed up and given me my robe back. What had happened when the ship was speeding uncontrollably had been a total secret; so naturally, everyone on the ship knew, including Aerrow's and Junko's part in stopping it. Gareth had been following his hero around ever since. He wasn't nearly as bad as Noob, however, who seemed to be hero-worshipping both Aerrow and Junko.

Aerrow smiled kindly. "Hey, Gareth."

Just then, the nightmare himself came: Noob.

"Aerrow, Aerrow, I was just looking . . ." He tapered off when he caught sight of one of the boy Blizzarians, Billy Rex, hanging from the ceiling and hollering. "Who are _they_?"

"Picked them up at Blizzaris," I explained.

Noob's face brightened. "Those guys look _cool!_" And with that, he was running to join their fray.

Aerrow and I exchanged glances and sighed in relief.

"So . . ." Gareth said, when he was left standing in front of us. "Can _you_ do that, Aerrow?" He had this idea that Aerrow could do anything.

"I think so," Aerrow answered honestly, looking up at Billy Rex, who had hollered, "Rock on!" and jumped down onto the round table.

Radarr squawked in alarm. He clearly did not want Aerrow to try that.

"But you're not going to," I told him sternly.

"Probably not," he admitted.

We stopped by Terra Aquinos, too, where some kid named Horace got on. Then we went to Terra Clockstoppia, which I didn't even know existed.

This girl in a beautiful dress got on. Aerrow's eyes widened. "Piper," he said, "that girl looks just like—"

"I know," I said. She looked just like me.

"High!" she said to us excitedly. "I knew Santa Claus was real! I knew it! I can't wait to see him! Can you wait to see him? Oh, yeah, you look just like me!"

What a spazz.

"What's your name?" Junko offered kindly, as was his custom.

"Princess Peregrine," the girl huffed, as if the answer annoyed her.

I stared at her in delighted surprise. "You're a _princess?_" I said. "Wonderful!"

"No, it isn't," Princess Peregrine. "I hate it. Please call me Perry."

"Okay," I said. "What do like to do?"

She pulled out two hand puppets. "I play with these!" she said. "This is Lady Ursula and Dr. Ogre." Immediately she started moving "Dr. Ogre," making him say, "'I'm gonna eat you!'" He let out an evil laugh. Perry's voice was deep and gravely for the ogre. Then Perry switched to a sweet, singsong voice for Lady Ursula. "'Oh, you?'" the Lady said, swishing a hand in Dr. Ogre's direction dismissively. "'Eat this!'" She pulled out a puppet version of a club with studs like a mace. Lady Ursula proceeded to beat Dr. Ogre with it.

Okay. Sorry I asked.

We went to Terra Amazonia, where some blond girl got on (Finn ogled at her) and then went to Terra Merbia. "Your home terra!" I said to Stork.

Stork cringed. "Don't remind me."

A group of kid who called themselves "Sky Scouts" got on. Even though it was five minutes midnight (and had been for about an hour now), they were all dressed up in their scout uniforms. It was kind of curious, especially since these Merbs didn't seem as paranoid as Stork or other Merbs I'd heard about.

The one called Griffin did a backflip and said, "Huh! I could do lots of cool moves if this place were bigger!"

The one named Owlsley had tan skin as opposed to green. He obviously wouldn't be the athletic one; his belly bulged over his belt buckle. But he proved to be just as much trouble as Griffin. He peered through his glasses excitedly at the gauges of the _Condor_ next to the helm, where all the levers were located. "Hey, what's _this_ do?" Owlsley asked, tapping a gauge. "And this?" He pulled down a lever, which released one of Stork's traps, triggering a punching mitt to come out of the wall. He then pulled another lever and had the same thing happen, although this time the mitt narrowly missed him.

Not realizing the trouble he was causing, Owlsley said, "Oh, I know a lot about machines and stuff!" He ran away from the helm before anyone could stop him.

Owlsley ran up to the _Condor_'s cannon, currently reeled back on its turret and the hatch closed. "What's that thing?" the Merb boy asked, pointing to it. Without waiting for an answer, he pulled out a wrench and loosened a screw on the cannon's turret. "I can make this way better!"

Stork ran to stop him, shouting, "No!" But he was too late. The boy ran off just as the cannon was loosened on the spring of the turret and jumped forward, running into the closed hatch.

The one called Pydge had a gray tint to his skin that surprisingly looked natural as opposed to sickly. He was slight and skinny, and like Owlsley, he wore glasses. Pydge grabbed hold of a very frightened-looking Radarr, hugging him close. "I _love_ animals!" he exclaimed, squeezing Radarr as tight as he could. Radarr's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. It looked like he couldn't breathe. Then Pydge suddenly dropped him. Radarr landed flat. "I can," Pydge said, pointing to himself with his thumb and stuttering a little, "I-I can talk to them!"

Radarr had just gotten up on his hind feet and was rubbing his head, recovering from the fall. Pydge turned to him and said, "Rrrrree, ree, chippie, chippie, ree!"

Radarr looked at his paws in the wildest alarm, his eyes bugging again. Whatever Pydge had said to him, it wasn't pretty. Radarr took off running across the bridge. And of course, Pydge chased after him. "Uh, hey, hey!" he cried. "W-where you goin'? Come back! I wanna talk!"

"ENOUGH!" Stork had finally shouted. "Sky Scouts, on the deck! We have to, um . . . makes some repairs."

"Can I bring this guy?" Pydge asked, having gotten hold of Radarr and hugging him again. Radarr peered up at Aerrow and me in an appeal for help.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Stork said, leading the way out.

"Yes!" Pydge exclaimed, running out on the deck. Radarr gave a horrified squawk as he was carried out.

Stork looked back at me, Aerrow, Finn, and Junko before he went out. "One of you take the helm."

And with that, he was gone.

Aerrow went up to the helm. "Well, this can't be too hard."

Finn pointed at the center of the helm. "Is that the horn?"

"I think so," I answered, squinting at it.

He slammed his hand on the helm and heard the horn blear. He smiled at that. "I've wanted to do that my whole life!" he exclaimed. Then he did it again.

"Okay," I said, taking his hand and pulling him back, "enough."

Aerrow hadn't been driving for a few seconds before I heard someone outside shouting, "STOP!"

It was Stork. He was shouting at us, gesturing for Aerrow to stop.

"That lever," I said, pointing to one. "That looks like the break."

Aerrow eyed a button. "I think that's it."

"Are you sure?" I asked him.

That made him hesitate, and both he and Junko looked at me. I knew it was the second time I'd asked him that, and the third time I'd asked someone this night, the first time at Junko. But what if we weren't sure?

Aerrow hesitated again and reached for the lever I had spotted. Then, with a defiant glare in my direction, he pressed the button he had noticed.

Immediately the ship came to a sliding, screeching halt so sudden that we all fell forward on our stomachs. "Whoa!" Finn and Junko cried as they slid into the round table and steadied themselves against it. Aerrow was thrown forward onto the floor, and I screamed as I landed close to him.

The other kids didn't do any better at keeping their balance; there were lots of screams, lots of collisions, and lots of yells of, "Ow!" and "Sorry!"

Once Junko had stood up, he pointed out the window. "Look!"

We got to their feet and gathered at the window along with him, Finn pressing his hands against the glass. Outside, we could all see the safety chutes had deployed, and an indicator on the helm proved the landing gear was out.

Junko and Aerrow had done their dangerous acts of bravery for nothing! That button had been there the whole time! Everyone groaned, and Junko said, "Oh, man!" And with that, everyone turned to glare at Stork out the window.

Looking around at all of us, Stork chuckled sheepishly. "Oh, yeah," he said loudly so we could hear through the glass, clearing his throat. "Forgot that was there."

But the Sky Scouts were cheering. "That was _awesome!_" Griffin yelled.

"Why'd we stop?" I shouted at Stork.

Pydge was pointing frantically. "Look!"

We all looked just as Junko sneezed so loudly as to send six kids, including Finn, flying.

I stared out the window. "It's—"

"—Sky Sharks!" Junko yelled before letting out another sneeze.


	5. Chapter 5: The Doubter and the Forgotten

Author's Notes: One review last time. One review! This sucks.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 5: The Doubter and the Forgotten<span>

Finn looked over a Junko. "How in the world do you know those are Sky Sharks? You're not even looking!"

Junko shrugged. "Oh, I'm allergic to them."

"What?"

I looked around to see what Aerrow thought, but to my surprise, he was headed toward the door to go out on the deck with Stork. I followed him, only noticing as I was opening the door that Junko was following. Finn scurried behind us, saying, "Wait for me!"

Once out on the deck, I saw Aerrow standing next to Stork, peering at the Sky Sharks. "Why aren't they attacking?"

"No idea," Stork said. Then he muttered his usual, "But when they do, we're doomed."

"Maybe I can talk to them!" Pydge exclaimed. He had finally dropped Radarr when he said this, who went scurrying to Aerrow to hide behind his leg.

"No, Pydge," Aerrow, Stork, and I all said in unison.

Junko looked out before sneezing again so powerfully that he sent himself flying back into the window. "This is a tough nut to crack."

Owsley nodded, pushing his glasses up his face. "We're in some serious jelly."

"And a jam!" Griffin added.

"A tight spot," Pydge agreed

"Up a creek," Owsley said.

"Up a tree," Griffin said.

"Lost in the grass," Pydge put in.

"SHUT UP!" Stork shouted at them.

Unfortunately, that made the Sky Sharks turn and look at us. Stork stared with wide eyes. "Whoops."

And with that, the first shark dived at us.

We all screamed and made to run. But Junko couldn't run. He was too busy trying not to sneeze. And just when the Sky Shark was almost upon us, Junko did sneeze.

The shark gave us a surprised look before it was sent flying in the opposite direction.

We all froze. Aerrow's face lit up. "That's it! Junko, stay where you are!"

"What?"

Another shark came flying our way, and Junko let out another sneeze. That shark was sent flying backward, too. "Yes!" Aerrow exclaimed, clenching a fist.

Seeing two comrades already sneezed back, the other sharks decided that this was one ship they did not one to mess with. They all scattered as quickly as possible.

"Yeah, that's right!" Finn shouted after them. "Not so tough now, are ya? Remember that next time you try to take on the Finnster!"

"Finn," I reminded him, "you didn't _do_ anything!"

Finn was about retort when Stork interrupted with, "That's more like it! Everyone back inside! We're flying onward . . . to our doom, probably."

The Sky Scouts ran in first. As we were following, I said, "At least no one almost fell off this time."

"You know," Stork told us, "years ago, on my first Christmas Eve run, I was up on the roof securing a plate that wanted to fly off, and I slipped on the ice and fell myself. And yet, I did not fall off this ship."

Junko, Finn, Aerrow, Radarr, and I stopped at that. "Someone saved you?" I said in awe.

Stork leaned forward toward us and raised an eyebrow. "Or some_thing_."

Aerrow and I exchanged glances, and I knew we were thinking the same thing. We might know this something.

"An angel!" Junko suggested.

Stork nodded. "Maybe." He didn't bother to list anything like a vampire with a jet pack or flying bear or anything like that. That made me wonder if maybe, just maybe, he might actually suspect the truth.

"What did he look like?" I asked. "Did you see him?"

"No," Stork answered. "But sometimes seeing is believing, and sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see."

As he said this, he looked right at me. I couldn't help but think he was trying to convey some sort of message to me.

We went back inside and started for the next terra.

We eventually stopped at Terra Gale. The person who got on was wearing kitchenware. I'm not kidding. Really, she was.

Her name was Dove, and she fixed us all with a cold eye, not unkindly, just sternly. I knew this was a person who wouldn't take nonsense from anyone.

And Finn, just like with the Amazonian girl, ogled at her, despite the kitchenware.

The next terra we went to gave me chills. We had made it to Terra Deep, where we hovered by a wrecked ship and lowered the plank to it rather than landing anywhere. I knew there were Murk Raiders here, but I couldn't imagine who we were picking up.

Finally someone came on, a fat guy with an eye patch over one eye. "Oh, yes!" he said. "SANTA! I get to see SANTA!"

He turned to us excitedly. "Scabulous said he didn't exist, but he was wrong! We're going to see him!"

Finn raised an eyebrow. "And you are . . . ?"

"Eyeball!" the guy said excitedly.

"Right," Finn said, looking at him as if he were scum.

Suddenly, Junko sneezed again.

Aerrow and I looked around widely. "More Sky Sharks?" I cried.

"No," Junko said, "I'm allergic to Murk Raiders, too."

"MURK RAIDERS?" Aerrow, Finn, and I all exclaimed while Radarr screeched his equivalent. That meant Eyeball was a _Murk Raider!_ We all quickly edged away from him.

Eventually we went to Terra Mesa. There someone named Starling came on. She seemed friendly enough, but she didn't talk much, shunning most of the company much as Aerrow had done when he arrived, though she didn't completely isolate herself as he had done.

The next terra didn't make me feel that safe, either. We had stopped at Terra Zartacla. I wasn't sure how the guards didn't notice us, especially with Stork shouting, "All aboard!" but eventually a skinny redhead in a guard uniform and wearing braces got on. We learned his name was Hamish, and that he was as stupid he looked.

By that time, the Sky Scouts had about driven Stork to his wits' end. He left the helm to Radarr, muttering something about having to check the "toy room."

"The toy room?" Junko said with excitement.

"It's just an excuse," Stork warned, quietly so that the Scouts wouldn't hear.

"But you _do_ have a toy room?" Junko added.

Stork rolled his eyes. "Alright. Come on." He led Junko away. I looked at Aerrow, seeing if he wanted to follow, but Aerrow seemed content to hang out with Radarr, who couldn't leave the helm since he was driving. So I followed alone.

Down the hallway we went, past the room Aerrow and Radarr had hid in and past the hatch to the roof and down another hallway. Finally Stork turned to a room on the side and led us into it.

It wasn't a toy room like either Junko or I were expecting. It was dark and desolate inside. The toys inside were all broken apart and torn up, some muddied and others tangled and still others with completely shattered bits. "Ah, the abandoned and forsaken," Stork told us as he led us inside. "The fate of us all. Mind your step now. These poor toys have suffered enough, being left to rust and decay in the back alleys and vacant lots of the Atmos."

"What are they doing here?" I asked as I looked around.

"It's a new concept the boss came up with," Stork said. I could tell by the way he said "boss" that he meant Santa. "Instead of being thrown away, they're being collected. Refurbished. He calls it, eh . . . rebicycling? Something like that."

I looked at a doll lying off to the side, covered in mud, her dress torn, he arm missing. I knew it was just toy, but it was still a sad sight.

Junko picked up a little figurine that was bent all out of shape. "Makes me wanna cry," he said, "seeing toys that way treated this way."

Stork gestured to a bunch of marionettes hanging from the ceiling, looking grotesque in their condition. "These hopelessly entangled puppets and marionettes pose a peculiar problem. We found the nimble fingers of our workforce here at Polar Terra are the best for working out those knots and tangles. Ah, well . . ." He shrugged and started to leave. Junko followed, looking upset.

I stopped and looked at one of the poor marionettes, one with a broken nose. Looking at the knots, I couldn't believe _anyone_ could work them out. Santa's workforce must be something.

When the door closed behind Stork and Junko, I realized I'd lingered too long, and they were about to leave me behind.

I had just reached for the handle went I felt something land on my shoulder. I turned around. It was a marionette's hand that had stopped me, one of an old man in pajamas. I knew I should place him, but I couldn't.

The puppet started moving, and then I heard a voice speaking as its mouth moved. "You're just like me, my friend. A Scrooge!"

I screamed and sprang back as the puppet moved toward me when it yelled. Had I gone crazy? Had the puppet really . . . come to life?

But know I knew who the puppet was. Scrooge.

"Polar Terra, Santa Claus, this ship," the puppet said, "it's all a bunch of humbug! A bout of indigestion!"

But this couldn't be. Someone had to . . .

I looked up. Sure enough, there was Arygyn, pulling the strings.

But even though he must have known I'd seen him, he kept on with the act. "Oh, yeah, I know what you are," he made Scrooge say. The puppet pointed at me, and then Arygyn shouted, "You're a doubter!"

I gasped. This was just too freaky. A guy I thought was a Skeelur directing a freaky-looking puppet that was shouting at me . . . it was too much for my nerves. I ran toward the door, only to get entangled in more marionettes while trying to get away. All the while, Arygyn, in his Scrooge voice, was shouting, "You're a doubter! You don't believe! You're a doubter! You don't believe!"

I finally made it to the door, threw it open, and slammed it shut on Arygyn's most awful, horrible laugh.

* * *

><p>Back on the bridge, I tried to avoid everyone. <em>A doubter,<em> he had called me. A doubter. Because I couldn't believe in Santa. Because I still wondered if this whole adventure was just a dream.

I looked around. I wanted to talk to Junko, who was such a strong believer, or Aerrow . . . Aerrow just because.

But Aerrow was nowhere to be found on the bridge. Nor was Junko. Or even Finn.

At last, I spotted Aerrow. He wasn't on the bridge at all. He and Radarr were out on the deck. Aerrow was leaning on the railing.

I couldn't imagine what he was doing out there. Why would he stand out in the cold when he didn't have a proper coat?

Quickly I headed for the door and went out only to come face to face with Junko and Finn. Junko quickly shushed me and pointed toward Aerrow and Radarr, telling me they were not to be disturbed. Finn seemed to be sticking around for Junko's sake, looking uncomfortable.

I peered past them at Aerrow and Radarr. What was going on?

Aerrow and Radarr seemed to have no idea we were there. Aerrow was staring out at the sky, a sad expression on his face. I never imagined that Aerrow could look small and vulnerable; even in his shabby clothes, he had the sort of attitude of someone always saying, "I dare you," to anyone who tried to mess with him. But now, he looked exactly like what he was: a scared kid with nowhere to go for help.

Aerrow's eyes were on a distant star, the brightest of them all. "I wish he could find us this year. What do you think, Radarr? Think he will?"

Radarr, who was balanced on the railing, let out a quiet churr, like an uneasy cat purr. I wasn't sure what that meant, but apparently Aerrow did.

"I guess Santa's too busy to try to keep up with us, what with our moving around and all," Aerrow said. "I just . . . hope he finds us this year. For once."

My heart melted at that. I never once thought about the fact that, whether or not Santa was real, I would still wake up to lots of presents on Christmas morning. Aerrow and Radarr probably never had anything.

Junko apparently thought Aerrow needed some cheering up. He stepped right up to Aerrow, announcing his presence with, "But Christmas is the best time of the year."

Aerrow and Radarr both gasped when they heard him arrive. Radarr nearly toppled off the railing, but Aerrow grabbed him by the scruff and placed him on his shoulder.

"All the family comes home," Junko went on as if nothing happened, "and everyone's so full of Christmas cheer! Putting up the tree and decorations . . . and so many friends coming to see you . . . It's the funnest time of the year! Think of all the presents!"

Aerrow's face fell, and I knew immediately that Junko had made a mistake in reminding Aerrow of family and friends at Christmas time. Aerrow probably had none of that besides Radarr. "I've . . . never seen any of that," he admitted at last. "I've heard about it, but . . ."

"No one will be sleeping tonight," Junko added. "We'll all be waiting for Santa. And he will come. He will! And he'll find you guys," he added. "He's got to. You're on the Express, so he's _got_ know where to find you tomorrow if the Express drops you off somewhere." When Aerrow still didn't look reassured, he added, "You've got to at least _like_ Christmas. You've got to love it when you hear the sleigh bells and the singing of angels . . ."

"I've never heard a sound," Aerrow informed him. He didn't look annoyed, just saddened, as he he'd only just realized what he was missing, and he wanted it badly.

"He'll find you this year," Junko insisted. He put his hand on Aerrow's shoulder, the one Radarr wasn't resting on. "Besides . . . you got us now."

Aerrow glanced at him and then looked back at Finn and me. We were standing back a distance, feeling awkward. But seeing Aerrow smile at me made me feel invited, and I came up on the other side of him, wrapping an arm around him. "Yeah," I agreed, "you got us."

"Totally, dude!" Finn added, coming up beside Junko.

Radarr nuzzled Aerrow's chin before turning and nuzzling my cheek in thanks.

Aerrow's smile was small but natural. "Thanks, guys," he said.

"Yeah, yeah, we all care," another voice said. "Now get inside, the lot of ya before you catch pneumonia."

We all turned and saw Stork standing in the doorway. "Right," Aerrow said at once, beaming at him, too. And with that, he headed inside with Radarr on his shoulder, the rest of us with them.

Once inside, Stork told us this was it. We were heading straight north, straight into Cyclonian territory and onward to Polar Terra.

I just didn't know what to say to that. I knew what our next stop was: Cyclonia.

Sure enough, in little time, we had made it to the formidable terra. Despite what Stork had said about the Cyclonians, there didn't seem to be anyone there to meet us and fire us out of the skies.

We landed on the edge of a dock, and Stork got out, calling his usual, "All aboard!"

Aerrow was pressed up against the glass next to me. And he looked angry. "What're we stoppin' here for?" he growled. "Doesn't he know these people?"

"He said they celebrate Christmas, too," I pointed out to him.

"They destroy homes and families," Aerrow answered back, his voice raw with anger. "They shouldn't be allowed on here."

"But they can't _all_ be bad, right?" I reminded him.

"You don't know them like I do."

I couldn't bring myself to tell Aerrow he was being unreasonable. He was right. I _didn't_ know Cyclonians like he did, and I didn't go through all the things he had to go through. It would be unfair of me to say so. But . . . not every Cyclonian attacked terras and killed people. Surely Aerrow knew that on some level. But his experience with them must have taught him otherwise.

The Cyclonian who did finally answer the call was one who sent a shiver down my spine. Clad in armor with the Cyclonian symbol of a red raven striking in attack; a double-bladed, two-handed sword in a sheath on his back; and a grappling hook strapped to his left arm, he looked like a fit warrior. The deadly sword was powered by a deep red high-grade Firebolt crystal on the end of its handle. The man had jet black hair and blood-red eyes. I had never seen him before, but I knew somehow that I didn't like him.

But Aerrow was trembling. He apparently _had_ seen him before. "Not him," he muttered. "Not _him_." His fists were clenched as if he might try to punch through the glass to jump down on the man and rip his throat out.

"Who is he?" I asked.

"The Dark Ace." Aerrow's voice with filled with more loathing than I thought possible.

I trembled. The Dark Ace. Terror of the skies. I glanced over at him. "How do you know?"

At first Aerrow didn't seem fit to respond. "He's the one!" Aerrow said. "He killed my family!"

How do you respond to that?

I looked down at Stork and the Dark Ace, afraid for once that something might go wrong.

But the Dark Ace didn't attack Stork. He merely spoke with him, although angrily. I didn't hear the conversation they had, but apparently the Dark Ace wanted Stork to leave. He kept pointing forcefully away. When Stork kept refusing, the Dark Ace stalked off.

I breathed a sigh of relief, letting out the breath I didn't know I had been holding. "He's not coming," I assured Aerrow.

"Good for him," Aerrow answered.

I glanced over at Aerrow, and for the first time, I was afraid of him. He seemed kind, loyal, and brave . . . so kind, in fact, that I hadn't known violence was in him. But apparently I was wrong to think otherwise. Aerrow was easy to befriend but _not_ someone to cross.

Stork stood there a little while and finally gave up. Aerrow went away from the window, still shaking with anger, muttering about how we never should have come here.

I was about to walk away, too, when I noticed something. A pale girl with long, straight black hair that shielded her face had come out onto the dock, looking curiously at the Condor Express. But Stork wasn't there to greet here. In fact, the plank had already been taken up.

Stork had just come onto the helm and was starting the engine. "Stork . . ." I began.

"Not now," he muttered, starting the engines.

I looked back at the girl. She had noticed the running engines and had finally seemed to decide something. She went running under the ship, obviously trying to get on.

"Stork . . ."

"Wait till we're in the air."

The ship began to lift off the dock, and I noticed the girl was no longer there.

"No!" I shouted. I didn't know if she had fallen or if she was under the ship, but we couldn't leave until we knew she was safe. I ran to the emergency break button and hit it.

The safety chutes popped out, and the landing gear dropped again, jolting everyone inside.

Stork whirled around to me, his eye twitching madly. "We are already running behind!" he shouted. "Are you determined that we don't make it to Polar Terra on time?"

"But I . . . I . . ."

"She was just trying to let that girl get on!" It was Junko who defended me. I hadn't even known he had seen what I'd seen.

"What girl?" Stork asked.

"I saw her run under the ship . . ." I said.

Stork nodded to me. "Come on," he said.

I followed him away. Junko and Finn looked nervous to join me. I glanced at Aerrow and Radarr to see if they would come. Radarr was perched on Aerrow's shoulder. Radarr looked at Aerrow expectantly, but Aerrow was looking determinedly away from me. Apparently I wasn't on his good side now. I'd tried to help a Cyclonian board the Condor Express.

Stork and I went down to the hangar bay and looked around. "She was here . . ."

"There she is!" Stork shouted.

I turned and saw Stork was down on his belly, peering below the landing strip. I followed suit.

The girl was sitting on the landing gear, clutching the cables for dear life. But instead of greeting her rescuers, she merely fixed us with a cold glare. "You're contraption nearly killed me," she stated.

Stork looked flustered. "Well, you don't just grab the landing gear when a ship is taking off! Come on!" he added to me. He led me back inside the ship, and we went down to the lowest floor, where we came to a room with a hole in the bottom where the gears were let down. "Climb on up," he told her. "We'll help you."

So that's how I helped a Cyclonian girl onto the ship. She was wearing an aubergine cloak and had the most malevolent stare of any person I'd ever seen. Her eyes should have been a bright lilac, but they were too cold to be, somehow. Maybe Aerrow was right about Cyclonians, after all.

We went up into the upper decks again, and Stork was about to lead us into the bridge. But like Aerrow had, the girl hesitated when she saw all the people inside. She scowled and backed away before heading down the hall to her own room.

I looked around to find my new friends, but Junko and Finn were clustered with Aerrow and Radarr. Aerrow seemed determined to act like I didn't exist, stalking off without looking my direction. Finn decided to do the same thing. Junko and Radarr glanced at me apologetically, but they eventually followed their friends.

Jerks! Fine, then! I'll go hang out with the creepy Cyclonian girl. See how they liked that!


	6. Chapter 6: The Arrival

Author's Notes: I said I had to finish before tomorrow, so I'm going ahead and posting now, even though I haven't gotten a single review for last chapter.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 6: The Arrival<span>

When I asked for a hot chocolate, Stork sent me to find Chef Steward's quarters. Chef Steward was only too delighted to help. He immediately ran me to the kitchen and made a wonderful cup of chocolate, handing me some candy for my trouble as well.

I was taking a page out of Junko's book, remembering how he had taken the hot chocolate to Aerrow. I would do it for this new girl, the last pickup on our trip.

As soon as I came into the room she was in with her platter, she cast me the coldest glare. "What do _you_ want?"

I shrugged. "Just thought you might like some hot chocolate," I answered.

At first the girl said nothing before finally taking the hot chocolate from me with a gruff, "Thanks." But she did seem to enjoy it when she finally took a sip.

"I'm Piper," I told her, trying to be friendly and break this awkward silence.

She thought a moment before saying, "Call me Lark."

"Okay," I said. I noticed she kept her hand in her pocket, and she was playing with something there. "What do you have?"

"Oh." She pulled out some crystals. "It's nothing, really, just like to mess around with them sometimes—"

"Wow!" My inner crystal self came out at once. "Bloomers! Blazers! Icers!" I smiled. "I wish I had all those in my collection."

She brightened at that. "You have a collection?"

"Yeah!" I said. "I love crystals!"

"Me, too!"

Oh, this was awesome! Never mind what Aerrow said about Cyclonians. He was _totally_ wrong about this one!

I sat down next to her. "Have you ever done any experiments with eruption stones?" I asked her.

"Yes," she said. "It's quite fun with a feather crystal."

"Don't use a slimer with it," I warned her. "I found that out the hard way. I thought Dad was going to _kill_ me!"

She laughed at that. "I'll remember that."

I don't remember how long we talked, and I can't repeat everything we talked about. It was all about crystals and the things we'd done with crystals.

"So," I said without thinking, "how do you get all those crystals? Are your parents rich or something?"

That, apparently, was the wrong thing to say. "I don't have any parents," she said at once.

"Oh," I said, feeling like I just got the breath knocked out of me. "I'm . . . sorry."

"It's alright," she said. "I have my grandmother. And my grandmother," she smiled in such a creepy way that it almost looked wicked, "owns everything."

The way she said it made me nervous. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing," she said at once, as if just realizing she was making a mistake. "Nothing. Never mind."

"Is she . . . important or something like that?"

"Yeah . . ." Lark agreed. "Something like that."

"Okay," I said. I was starting to get nervous. What if this was the daughter of a commander or something?

Then it clicked. I don't know where it came to me, but it just clicked. Her cloak, her grandmother . . . "You're Master Cyclonis's granddaughter!"

Lark seemed to think that over, as if trying to decide how to respond. I wondered momentarily if she was going to deny it. Finally she said, "So what if I am?"

I jumped up. "Are you . . . that is, do you . . . ?" I wasn't sure what I was trying to ask. I finally settled on, "_Why_ does your grandmother try to conquer other terras?"

"Why, because it'd be better that way," Master Cyclonis said at once. "Don't you think having Atmos under one flag is best?"

"Not the way Cyclonia does it," I answered. My heart was beating wildly, and I didn't know whether it was out of anger or nervousness.

"My grandmother is great visionary!" Lark shouted, getting to her feet.

"Oh, yeah?" I shot back. "I have a friend who's lost his whole family because of your grandmother's 'vision'!"

"Then obviously they resisted," she said. "Resisters deserve what they get!"

I backed away from her. "That's monstrous!"

"Yeah?" she said. "You think so?"

"I know so!" I shouted back.

"She's got the power to do it!" she told me. "_Crystal_ power! Like you and me!"

"I'm not like that! And neither are you, or you wouldn't be on this ship!"

That stumped her, but only for a moment. "You don't know what I'm like!"

"Fine!" I said. "Let me just tell the whole world that Master Cyclonis's granddaughter went to see Santa Claus. Let's see what everyone says to that!"

She eyed me coldly. "If you did that," she said, "you'd have to admit you spent time socializing with me."

She had a pointed.

"Fine," I said. "We'll have an agreement. I'll leave, and it'll be like we never met."

She nodded. "And not a word of this to anyone."

"Right," I said.

"Right."

And with that, I turned on my heel and strode out of the room.

* * *

><p>Well, when I got back on the bridge, I didn't talk to anyone because I was mad. I was mad at my newest friend, the one friend who understood my affinity with crystals, being half mad and evil. I was mad at Aerrow and Finn for being mad at me. I was mad at Radarr and Junko for going along with Aerrow and Finn. I was mad at Stork for shouting at me earlier. And I was mad at everyone else in the room for daring to be cheerful when I was this mad.<p>

So what do you do when you're that mad? You sulk in a corner.

I don't know how long it was, but at some point Aerrow came over to me. "Hey," he said.

I crossed my arms and pointedly looked away.

"I'm sorry. About earlier."

Oh, he would have to try better than that!

"I thought about what you said and . . ."

Yes, go ahead and say it. Doesn't hesitate. Say it now.

". . . you're right."

I love hearing those words.

"I just . . . I shouldn't've . . . I mean, I know you can't call all people bad for what one group did . . ."

Uh huh.

"I just . . . I mean, I just remember . . ."

Oh, great. Was he talking about his family? Don't do that. If he did that, I'd have to feel sorry for him, and then I'd be forced to stop being mad at him. I wasn't ready to stop being mad.

"I'm sorry. It's just . . . they killed my parents. I'm sorry."

Oh, rats! I'd actually driven him to that painful point. Was he actually apologizing for what happened to him?

Stupid sympathy!

I turned back to him. "Don't do that!"

He blinked at me, clearly puzzled. "Do what?"

"Apologize for that!"

Now he was really confused. "But . . ."

"Forget it," I said. "You were half-right about this Cyclonian, anyway."

"You mean, the one you let on?"

"Yeah."

"You met her?"

Whoops.

"Yeah." Why deny it now?

"But . . . I was half-wrong. You gone awhile. You must have liked her a little."

"Yeah," I admitted. "I did. And I'm not apologizing for that."

"I'm not asking you to. You were just being nice. And I wasn't. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing!"

"Sor—Okay."

I sighed in exasperation.

He smiled nervously at me. "So . . . still friends?"

I hesitated a moment. I wasn't really considering the question—it was an obvious "yes"—but he deserved the suspense after the way he acted.

Down at his feet, Radarr was looking up at me with puppy eyes. Stupid friendly boy with his stupid cute friend had to inspire stupid sympathy that made my anger melt away far too quickly. Am I not allowed to hold a grudge or something?

I must have held out too long because Aerrow's face fell. "Yeah, okay, that's fair, I understand . . ."

I hurriedly grabbed his arm to stop him and flashed him a smile. "We're friends. Most definitely."

The next thing I knew, something slammed into my chest and gripped my neck, whimpering with delight. Good, old Radarr.

"Hey, guys!" Finn came running over to us. "You have to see this!"

Apparently since Aerrow was okay with me again, the rest of the guys were, too.

I set Radarr back on the floor, and we ran after Finn toward the window. Junko was there, as were a few other kids.

"Look!" Junko told us, pointing.

The most beautiful collection of shimmering lights was dancing across the sky. "The Northern Lights!" I exclaimed.

"Hey. Four troublemakers up there!"

Aerrow, Radarr, Junko, Finn, and I glanced back at Stork. Radarr squawked indignantly.

"Okay," Stork corrected. "The five of ya! We just crossed into the Arctic Circle. That's why you see the aurora borealis that you're gawking at. Now _move so I can see!_"

That's when I realized the five of us were standing right in front of the helm, blocking Stork's view. We quickly moved aside.

Once that was done, Finn pointed at some lights in the distance. "What's that?" he asked.

"That," said Stork, a wicked smile spreading slowly across his face, "is Polar Terra."

Aerrow and Radarr exchanged glances, and so did Finn and Junko. Then I exchanged glances with Aerrow and then with Junko. We were all opened-mouthed, half-unbelieving, excited. We were here. After this crazy adventure, we were _here at last!_

It was all so exciting that even I joined in with the other kids when they started to sing their song.

"_It's a magic carpet in the air. Never takes a rest!_

_Flying through the mountains and the snow!_

_You can ride for free and join the fun if you just say yes!_

'_Cause that's the way things happen on the Condor Express!_

_Honk, honk, the horn blows. That's the sound of her singing!_

_Blast, blast, the engines roar. Golly, look at her go!_

_If you wonder if you'll get there soon, anybody's guess!_

'_Cause that's the way things happen on the Condor Express!_

_When we get there, we'll scream, 'Yea!'_

_We'll arrive with a BANG, BANG, BANG!_

_BOOM, BOOM, BOOM! Laughing all the way!_"

Stork was smiling to himself as we came in for the landing. "We made it," he said, laughing hysterically, "with five minutes to spare!"

I raised an eyebrow at him. We had five minutes five minutes ago! And five minutes ago before that! And . . . well, you get the point.

As we came in for the landing, we looked around. It was a cute little town in which every building had white Christmas lights on it. The streets were cobblestone with identical streetlamps, each with a Christmas wreath on it.

But something was missing. "There should be elves," Gareth said as he looked out. "Where are the elves?"

"Yeah," Billy Rex agreed, "where are the elves?"

"Where are they?" Noob echoed.

"They are gathering in the center of the city," Stork told us. "That is where Santa will give the first gift of Christmas."

We all turned to him excitedly. The first gift of Christmas?

Finn ran up to him excitedly. "Who gets the first gift of Christmas?" he asked, clearly hoping it would be _him_.

Stork looked around at all of us, squinting harshly. "He will choose one of you."

"Look!" a girl yelled suddenly.

"Elves!" Chuckie cried, pointing.

We were just about to touch down now, and there were elves everywhere! They wore red and white outfits, just like their boss, and they looked like full-grown, shaven people, even though they were only about as tall as some of the younger children on the ship. I expected dwarf-like people, but these were more like . . . mini-people.

Once the Condor Express had landed, Stork went outside, gesturing for the rest of us to follow. "Two columns!" he ordered as he started leading us toward the gang plank. "Shorter in the front, taller in the rear. Even-numbered birthdays on the right, odd-numbered birthdays on the left. But let's pick up, okay, it's five minutes to midnight!"

"Dude," Finn shouted at him, "it was five minutes to midnight five minutes ago!"

"Exactly!" Stork told him without bothering with an explanation.

I was just about to follow when I remembered something. Lark. No matter what I thought of her grandmother or her philosophy, she should still have a chance to see Santa. And she wasn't with the rest of us.

"Wait!" I called to Stork. I ran up to him. "The Cyclonian girl," I said quickly. "She should come . . ."

"She knows we're heading out," Stork answered nonchalantly. When he saw I wasn't satisfied with that answer, he looked me in the eye and said, "Look, no one is required to see Santa, got it? If she wants to stay on board and risk deck fleas, that's her business. My job is to get all of you to Polar Terra and back safely."

Well, I couldn't just let Lark miss out on the chance of a lifetime. Quickly I turned around and ran back into the ship, not bothering to enter the bridge but keeping right on into the hallway until I came to the room where I had been with Lynn.

She was there, alright, still sitting on the bed where I left her. "Come on!" I said to her. "You have to come with us!"

She glared at me. "What? I'm good enough to talk to now?"

"It's Christmas Eve," I said. "You shouldn't be here alone."

She turned away from me. "My grandmother thinks Christmas is nonsense."

"Your grandmother . . . !" I stopped before I made a mistake. "_You_ obviously don't think Christmas is nonsense, or you wouldn't be here! Now come see Santa with us! That's what you're here for, isn't it?"

She was silent for a moment, as if merely considering it. Finally she turned away from me, her arms crossed. "Just leave me alone, okay?"

I sighed. Well, I had given it my best shot. Knowing that she wouldn't have it any other way, I did what she asked and left her alone.

As I was heading back down toward the plank, however, I came face to face with Junko. He looked worried. "What?" I asked him.

"Aerrow," he said. "He wasn't with the group." He headed around me back toward the bridge.

I shook my head. First Lark, now Aerrow? How often did you get _two_ kids who got on the Condor Express and still won't come to see Santa?

We found Aerrow sitting on one of the couches on the bridge, absently looking out a window. Radarr was with him, as always, curled up next to him and peering up at him sadly. He had his paw on his hand. As soon as Radarr noticed us, he turned his head in our direction and pricked his ears toward us, alerting Aerrow to our presence.

"Hey," Junko said when he walked up to him, "aren't you comin'?"

Aerrow shrugged. "Christmas just doesn't work out for me," he said in a quiet voice. "Never has."

"But Christmas is such a wonderful, beautiful time!" Junko argued. He was so full of Christmas spirit that seemed hard for him to imagine that other people didn't feel the same way. "It's a time for giving and being thankful, for family and friends!" He gestured to us when he said friends. Because we _were_ Aerrow's friends. Even if we'd only met, according to the stopped clocks, less than a minute ago. "People hang decorations and lights," Junko continued, "and then Santa comes and leaves presents under our Christmas trees!"

But that meant nothing to Aerrow. He had never been part of any of that.

He kept his head down a moment and then looked up to meet our gazes again. "Christmas just . . . doesn't work out for me," he said again.

I sighed in exasperation. This was just _exhausting_! Why can't he just come with us already? "Look," I said, leaning down and looking him right in the eye, "I don't know if Christmas is gonna work out for you or not, but this is Christmas Eve! Don't spend it here by yourself!"

I know I had said something similar to Lark, and it hadn't worked. But with Aerrow, I thought I had a chance.

"Yeah," Junko added hopefully. "Come with us. We'll go together."

Aerrow looked around at both of us, as if unsure. Radarr whimpered to him hopefully.

Finally Aerrow stood up. "Alright," he said. "Let's go!"

"Yes!" Junko exclaimed. Then he crushed Aerrow with a hug.

I led the way out, hoping that Aerrow wouldn't have second thoughts. If he did, he didn't show it.

Once outside, we looked around. Most of the elves were gone already, and Stork and the other kids had disappeared with them.

"We're too late!" Junko said.

I shook my head. "Stork said they're gathering in the center of the city, right?" I pointed out. "We just have to get there, and then we can find the others." That seemed like perfect logic to me.

"Alright," Aerrow agreed. "What are we waiting for?"

We were just starting out when Aerrow and I both heard a loud clank. Radarr let out a squawk of alarm, and we whirled around. "What the . . . ?" Aerrow began.

Junko had apparently tripped over a small track, like a railroad track, and had landed face first in a cart on the tracks. The cart was knocked into action by the force and was sliding back down the tracks. Radarr was scampering after him.

Aerrow and I only had to glance at each other to know what to do. We ran after them.


	7. Chapter 7: A Little Misadventure

Chapter 7: A Little Misadventure

Radarr made a flying leap for the cart just as Junko sat up and realized what was going on. Next thing he knew, he had a face full of Radarr.

Aerrow was next to make a jump for it, clinging to the side and easily climbing in. I wasn't so graceful, but I managed.

Once inside, I looked around. "Now what?" I asked.

"I don't know!" Junko groaned.

"We're going to be okay," I said, looking at the tracks. This thing would come to a standstill soon enough.

But instead, it ran over a motor that changed the tracks, and suddenly he were headed downhill at high speed in a back alley. "Maybe not!" I amended.

"We have to stop this thing!" Aerrow shouted.

It was the simplest solution in the world with perhaps the toughest dilemma: how? I looked around in frustration. "Doesn't this thing have a break?"

Just then, I heard a voice. Arygyn's voice, but instead of looking up and seeing Arygyn, I saw a Mynall bird flying above us. "Take a break, kid!" the bird said, pecking at little lever far off the side of the cart. "Want a cup of Joe?"

And just like that, the bird had winged away.

I looked around at the other two. They hadn't even noticed the bird; they had been looking the wrong way. Figures.

And without another thought, I pulled the lever.

Radarr suddenly screeched. "We're gonna crash!" I heard Junko yell.

Sure enough, the cart jolted to a stop when it collided with some sort of end to the tracks. It might have gone over had it not already been slowed by the break. But the guys could thank me for that later.

We all tumbled over each other on impact, and as I tried to sit up, I noticed something. "We're spinning!"

Sure enough, when we sat up, he found ourselves on a spinning turret. All around us were sets of tracks coming out of tunnels.

We had come down one of those tunnels, I knew, but now we had no idea which one we came from. Christmas music was playing softly over speakers in whatever building we were in.

Junko turned to look at us. "You hear that?" he asked.

The rest of us blinked at him in surprise. Radarr titled his head to the side. The music? We all heard the music.

"The bell!" he told us.

I raised an eyebrow. "What bell?"

"The sleigh bell!" Junko answered excitedly, jumping out of the cart.

"Sleigh bell?" Aerrow repeated. He sounded excited. Next to him, Radarr chirped eagerly and jumped out of the cart after Junko.

"Don't you hear it?" Junko asked us as the rest of us climbed out. He looked around. "It's coming from over there!" He pointed into one of the tunnels and then ran over to the tracks that led down it.

Aerrow, Radarr, and I followed but then drew up short. We had only just realized that the turret we were on and the tracks were the only solid surfaces before we reached the tunnels. All around us was a drop so long and so far that I couldn't see the bottom. Worse, there was only enough floor for the tracks on either side. There wasn't any way to leave this place without a bit of tightrope walking. It was nerve racking, to say the least.

But Junko was so certain. He pointed down the tunnel. "That's the way we should go!" But even he didn't seem in any hurry to try to get there.

Finally Aerrow stepped forward. "Well, what are we waiting for? We have to get out of here somehow." He started across, tiptoeing his way over the rail. When he saw we weren't following, he turned around and gestured to us. "Come on!"

Radarr gulped loudly and started across, keeping down on all fours to do it and practically hugging the little rail platform.

Junko and I exchanged glances. Aerrow was right. There was no other way. Junko started across first, his ears pricked forward as if still straining to hear the bell sound. I followed after him.

We were about halfway cross when I saw Junko's hoof slip. "Junko!" I cried.

Aerrow whirled his head around, and Radarr screeched.

"Whoa, whoa, wha!" Junko gasped as he wobbled dangerously, his arms cart wheeling. But at last, he steadied himself again. "I'm okay!"

I breathed a sigh of relief.

We finally made it across and found train tracks that led us out of the building and into a back alley of the town. Junko took the lead from there, as only he could hear the bell. "Come on!" he told us excitedly as we jogged through the narrow streets of cobblestone. Every now and then we would pass under beautifully decorated archways, which didn't make me feel comfortable because I didn't remember archways when we first rolled away. How could Junko be so sure this was the way to go?

Just then, we came to another tunnel, this one much smaller to the first. Otherwise, the street was a dead end. Just as I thought. "We're lost," I said.

Undaunted, Junko went up to the tunnel, cocking an ear forward. "Yes," he said. "Yeah, I hear it."

Radarr came up next to Junko on all fours, one paw lifted in a pointed, his ears cocked forward and his neck reaching as far into the tunnel as it would go. He looked like some sort of champion pointer dog. Suddenly he let out a screech that was filled with delight.

Aerrow came up behind his friend and listened. "I hear it, too!" he exclaimed.

I listened as hard as I could. "I don't hear anything."

"Okay," Aerrow said as if I hadn't spoken, "it's down this way." He pointed down the tunnel and then started down it.

"Are you sure?" I called after him.

He froze that. There it was again. The question. But we had to be sure we going the right way, right? Otherwise we might not only miss everything, but we might not get back to the Condor Express on time!

Aerrow turned around slowly and fixed me with a firm glare. "Positive," he answered curtly, making it clear he never wanted to hear that question again.

In a moment, he was gone, Radarr on his heels. Junko followed after. There was nothing to do for me but come with them. "Why can't I hear anything?" I asked as I came up behind them.

"Shush!" Aerrow said.

I scowled. "Don't shush me!"

In answer, he shushed me again. He was listening once. Only after a moment did he proceed down the staircase in the tunnel. "Get down and be quiet," he told us as we approached the bottom.

We could all hear it now. There was the sound of typing on some sort of typewriter and the static of radio call-ins. "Yeah," a squeaky voice said. "Uh huh. Okay."

We all stepped forward and saw a balcony and railing in front of us. Aerrow motioned us to get down on the floor, and we all crawled on our bellies toward the railing to peer down at the floor below.

It was like an office building. There were desks with radios and typewriters in rows all over the room with a huge stack of TV screens in the center of the room. Each screen showed the face and name of a child. And would you know it? There was an old elf with a long, white beard pacing in front of the screens, and a few other elves at desks. One of them just hung up the receiver of his radio. "Well, that was the wrapping hall, Chief Agar," he said. "They just finished the last one."

"Oh, good, good," Agar said with the nonchalance of an old man. "How's it wrapped?"

"It's wrapped in candy-striped red with a number seven holly-green bow."

"A number seven bow?" Agar said in surprise. "This close to Christmas? What are they thinking down there? Haven't they looked at the clock? Are they blind?"

As soon as he said that, he almost walked straight into a desk before one of the other elves got up and led him around it. Yeah, and the other elves are blind.

"What's the routing?" Agar asked.

"Uh . . . going to Nimbus, it looks like," the caller elf said.

"Looks like?" Agar asked. "Is it or isn't it?"

"Not sure," the elf answered.

"Oh, Atmos help us!" Agar muttered angrily.

"Nimbus?" Aerrow repeated in a whisper.

Just then, a sign above the elves lit up. It said, "Naughty." "We got a troublemaker, men!" Agar said at once, although he was looking slightly left of the sign. "Just what we need. As if things aren't poor enough now . . . Where is his location, men?"

"Apparently, some kid from Atmosia put stuck some gum in his sister's hair," the squeaky-voice elf read off a sheet that just came in from the crystal-powered fax machine.

"Atmosia?" Agar said. "Oh, my. Is that the same child who put a tack underneath his teacher's chair last year?"

"No, sir," the other elf answered. "This kid goes by the name of Top Dog."

"So what do we do, Agar?" another elf asked. "Alert the big man? Are we talkin' no presents for Christmas?"

Agar paced back and forth on his knobby knees, tapping his staff in his hand. Finally he took a crystal lying next to the desk and pointed it at one of the screens. A bulky, tough boy's face came on, saying, "Well, she deserved it!" Over and over again it said that.

"Look, it's . . . it's Christmas," Agar said at last. "Let's cut the kid a break." He put down his crystal and tried to point at one of his men but pointed slightly right of him instead. "But put him on the check twice list for next year."

When one of the elves made a note of that, Agar said, "Alright, men. Let us be going. That's it for this year."

"Hey, chief," one of the elves said to Agar, "are we taking a skimmer?"

"Of course we're taking a skimmer!" Agar answered as they walked over to a group of skimmers. "It's the only way to get there on time. Oh, thank you," he said as one of the elves moved him over. Agar had been trying to mount but had been a little too far ahead; he nearly got on the skimmer's bow.

"I'll drive, sir," the squeaky elf said, apparently worried about Agar operating anything that required good eyesight.

And soon, all six elves had flown up a tunnel on three rides.

Quickly Aerrow led the way down toward the rides once the elves were gone. "Let's go!" he said.

"We can't steal one of these!" I reminded him in horror.

"We're not stealing," he corrected. "We're borrowing." He mounted one with Radarr close behind. "Well, come on!"

It was quite crowded with all of us crammed on one skimmer. Awkward, even. But soon we were flying up the tunnel and were only concerned about getting to the square on time.

Eventually we got to a fork in the tunnel. Aerrow listened. "Do you hear it?" he asked Junko and Radarr.

"No," Junko said sadly. Radarr shook his head.

Aerrow thought a moment. "I think we should go left," he said. And with that, we went left.

We took a couple more forks and ended up in a dead end platform. There wasn't anywhere else we could go where the skimmer would fit. "Let's get off and go on foot," I voted.

So that's what we did. Once there, I looked around. "I don't hear it," Aerrow said. "Do you?"

"No," Junko answered again.

Ahead of us I could see another tunnel with a conveyer belt that had arrows on it. "I think we should follow those arrows," I said.

Since we didn't know what else to do, the guys took my idea, and we started out, running along the arrows until we entered a room full of wrapping paper. From there, the arrows led us to yet another room with smaller conveyer belts melting into it. Ahead was yet another tunnel.

We stopped, and I looked around hopelessly. Was it always going to be more tunnels? I turned to the guys apologetically. "I thought there'd be a way out," I said.

"We're gonna miss everything!" Junko said sadly.

Just then, a horn sounded, and the conveyer belt started moving. All of us scrambled to get off it onto a platform and ended up on different ones, Junko and I on one and Aerrow and Radarr on the other.

"Hey, look!" Junko said, pointing.

Down one of the wing conveyer belts came an item. "A present!" I exclaimed. It was candy-striped and had a green bow. I read the label. "It's going to Terra Nimbus!" I exclaimed. It must have been the present Agar was talking about. I kept reading. "Aerrow, it has your name on it!"

Aerrow stared, openmouthed. "Really. _My_ name?"

I guess I should have seen it coming. The next thing I knew, when the present passed Aerrow, he leaped onto the conveyer belt and grabbed hold it. Seeing him, Radarr screeched and leaped onto his back. And then they had disappeared behind the flaps leading to the next tunnel.

"Come on!" I said to Junko, running after them. Junko followed after as fast as he could.

I fell over on my bottom so that I could be short enough to go through the tunnel. Junko jumped forward on his belly.

Next thing I knew, we were going down the slickest, wildest slide I'd ever been down. I have no shame in saying I screamed. The slide spiraled and looped and spiraled some more, all the while bringing us down into the depths of a huge room.

When we reached the bottom, the slide didn't stop there. We seemed to be heading down a gigantic funnel with no way to stop ourselves. And like all funnels, at the center was a hole. I screamed as we fell down it.

But nothing bad happened. We merely landed on top of the largest stack of presents I had ever seen! It was the size of a large hill! There was enough presents here to fill . . . _a carrier ship,_ I thought. Isn't that what I told Lynn? Santa had to have enough presents to fill a carrier ship?

We all shuffled around in the presents, catching our bearings. Radarr, who was still clinging to Aerrow with a death grip, looked shaken senseless. Aerrow, on the other hand, had a huge grin stretched across his face, and he still had hold of his present. "Look!" he exclaimed, holding it up.

Junko leaned forward to read the label. "It says 'Merry Christmas, Aerrow. From Mr. C.'"

Aerrow shook it excitedly. "I think I know what it is. I've wanted one of these my whole life!" He made to open it.

"Wait, wait!" Junko exclaimed. "Stop! Look." He pointed at another label.

We all looked. This other label read, "Do not open until Christmas."

Aerrow looked crestfallen at that. "But . . . I . . ."

"Those are the rules," I told him.

Before he could respond to that, we felt a jolt. The stack of presents was moving. Rolling. It must have been on some sort of rolling platform. We all looked up and saw that the stack stopped rolling just under a bulls-eye in the ceiling. What the . . . ?

Suddenly, four rockets shot up around us toward the bulls-eye, trailing rope. Then slowly, surely a huge, red sack was pulled up around the presents on the ropes.

"We're in Santa's sack!" Junko exclaimed.

Then the ceiling opened up, and there above us, with the ropes of the sack secured to it, was a freighter ship! The freighter began to lift the sack—with us—up into the air. Junko, Radarr, and I climbed up toward the rim to look out. Aerrow had to lift up his present and hold it over his head to join us.

We were flying over the town. What a beautiful sight it was! We could see all the Christmas lights for miles around over the cute, little red town.

Well, it looked like we were going to be right on time after all.

Suddenly, Aerrow let out a cry and sank into the presents. Junko and I whirled around. Radarr leaped down and grabbed hold of Aerrow's arm just before he was about to disappear into the presents. "Something's got me!" Aerrow cried. "It's got my leg!"

Junko and I grabbed hold of him. "Give me your other hand!" I told Aerrow.

Aerrow looked down at his other hand. He had his present in his clutch, holding it tightly under his arm. He turned back to me. "I can't!"

_Let go! It's just a present!_ I wanted to scream.

But I was wrong. It may well be the only present Aerrow had ever gotten.

"I got him," Junko assured me. As I let go, Junko suddenly gave a heave and pulled Aerrow out of the presents as easily as he would lift a piece of toast.

And there, dangling from Aerrow's foot, was a hand.

Junko pulled even harder. Another boy popped out of the pile, one with blond hair held up with too much hair gel and bright blue eyes.

"You!" I exclaimed, pointing at Finn.

"You!" Finn mimicked, pointing at me.

"What're you doing here?" Junko asked Finn curiously.

"Same as you," Finn answered. "Checking my presents. I'm makin' sure I'm getting everything on my list. All I found is one present, and all it had was a stupid pair of underwear!"

Aerrow was staring at Finn as if Finn had reached a new level of lunacy. Apparently Aerrow was unfamiliar with such materialism.

_What an idiotic jerk!_ I thought. I turned away from Finn to peer out over the town. And there . . . "Look!" I cried, pointing.

I could hardly believe my eyes. Down below was the town square. Thousands of elves were there, gathered around the biggest, most beautiful Christmas tree I had ever seen!

Then, suddenly, a chicken burst out of the pile of presents. I'm not kidding. It was the same white hen from the Condor Express. Radarr got one look at her before he went scurrying around the top of the presents, searching for an escape. The chicken ran after him, scattering feathers everywhere.

I looked at Aerrow. Radarr was his companion, after all. "Should we do something?"

Aerrow shook his head. "Actually . . ." he said, "this is kind of normal."

Um . . . okay . . .

In the freighter above us, we heard a voice saying over the radio, "_You may start your descent anytime now. At your convenience, of course._"

Slowly the ship started to descend with the bag. Junko stared off at the clock. "It's still five to!" he said eagerly. "I think we're gonna make it!"

"_Duh_," said Finn, who had joined us as the rim. "It's been five to for the last hour. We got plenty of time. We got time to kill!"

I looked down at where we were descending. "You know what?" I told the others. "I don't think we're gonna make it."

Down below, I could just make out Stork and the other kids. Stork put his hand around his mouth. "I say this as a world-flying pilot," Stork said. "I think you need more altitude! Or you're doomed!"

"More altitude!" the other elves yelled.

They were right. We were going to hit the tree!

"_Altitude, please,_" the radio on the freighter said above us. "_A bit more altitude, please._" The ship went up a little higher.

But it still wasn't enough. "We're not gonna make it!" I said again.

We had avoided hitting the tree, but we were still on a collision course with the star. Sure enough, the sack glanced the star and sent it tumbling from the tree. "Oh, no!" I cried.

But the elves apparently had it all under control. Five skyrides suddenly took off from the freighter and dived after the star, still in bike mode. Just before it hit the ground, they threw ropes that caught the star, each catching one of the corners. Then they deployed their wings, surged back up toward the top of the tree, and expertly put the star back.

"Whoa!" Junko said.

"Dude!" Finn exclaimed.

"Impressive," Aerrow agreed.

"REEEEEEEEEK!" Radarr screeched as he continued to flee the clucking chicken.

We lowered even more (this time away from the tree) until at last we were right above a beautiful (and regularly-sized) sleigh. Then, just like that, we were dropped right onto the back of it. I wasn't quite sure how this bag was supposed to stay perched on this sleigh.

After a moment, two elf faces appeared above the rim, one of them being Agar's. "Alright, you stowaways!" he said, looking to our right.

"Uh, boss?" the elf next to him said. "They're over there." He turned his head for him.

"Oh, right, right," Agar said. "Party's over, kids. Come on out."

Finn blinked innocently. "I was just following them!" he said, pointing at the rest of us.

Immature jerk!

"We fell in here by mistake," I told the elves, putting my sixpence in.

"Ah, forget about it," the other elf said dismissively. "We knew you was in there the whole time!"

"Come on, let's go," Agar told us. "Step up, step up."

We all headed toward the rim and climbed over, perched on a dip on the bag.

"So nobody gets hurt," the other elf said, "here's how we're gonna get you guys down. You're just gonna slide—"

"Slide? All the way down _that?_" Finn said, pointing down the bag and gulping. "I don't think that—"

"What do you know?" the elf cut him off, his hands on his hips. "You're not supposed to be here in the first place!"

That shut Finn up.

"But since it's Christmas," the elf continued, "I'm gonna let you . . . slide!" As he said it, he kicked Finn's legs out from under him. Finn screamed like a girl as he went sliding down the sack to the ground, where Stork stood waiting.

"Been lookin' for you!" Stork growled, grabbing Finn by the collar and leading him aside.

"There you go," the elves said to Junko as he stepped up. "Watch your step." And with that, they sent Junko sliding down the bag to Stork.

"Good to see you safe," Stork said to him, gesturing to the rest of the kids. Junko went to join Finn.

Radarr leapt up on Aerrow's back, hugging his neck, just as the chicken burst out of the packages again. An elf grabbed the chicken. "Not so fast there, sweety," he said.

Radarr heaved a sigh of relief.

Aerrow was still clutching his present when he stepped up to slide. "I'll take care of that, young man," Agar said, holding out his hands for the present.

Aerrow looked at him in dismay and shook his head.

"It's in good hands," Agar assured him softly. "Trust me."

I knew asking Aerrow to trust anyone was a lot. But somehow Aerrow did it. I saw him hesitantly hand the present over. Agar was about to throw it over the side of the sack when the other elf stopped him. "The sack's over here, boss," he said, directing his arms.

"Right, right," Agar said, throwing the present in the sack. And then they sent Aerrow and Radarr sliding down with the rest.

I was the last one, and they sent me down without any fuss. Stork met me at the bottom. "Cutting it kind of close, aren't we?" he told me.

Cutting close was right. But we'd made it.


	8. Chapter 8: Believe

Author's Notes: The bad news . . . I didn't finish before today. The good news—for you guys, anyway—I've been delayed. I'm not traveling again until tomorrow. So I'm posting this chapter now, and the next and final chapter will be posted to night.

As the Polar Express conductor would say (and Stork in this fic): Right on time.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 8: Believe<span>

We gathered with the rest of the kids just as door from the largest building on the square opened up. Elves there were leading out the tiny dragons to hook up to the sleigh. And if you've ever seen a full-sized dragon, you know that "tiny" is still a pretty good size. They were the size of large ponies or small horses, whatever way you look at it. They were all so feisty that it took about four elves on each on to keep them flying off. As they led the dragons up to the sleigh, the elves sang:

"_It's the spirit of the season._

_You can feel it in the air._

_You can hear it if you listen._

_Everywhere,_

_So much care,_

_Like a prayer._

_Whatever it is,_

_You need to share it._

_It's the spirit of the season._"

Finn cheered along with the rest of the elves as the dragons were hooked up. Apparently even he was getting into the Christmas spirit.

Horns began to play from a balcony above the door the dragons had appeared from. Then there was a drum roll. Something special was about to happen.

Out of the doors came two lines of elves, both lines carrying . . . lines of sleigh bells. They were beautiful little bells, silver and glistening.

The elves began singing again.

"_It's the spirit of the season._"

Then the elves shook the bells. All the elves cheered. "Yeah!" Junko cheered while Finn hollered. Aerrow exchanged a huge grin with Radarr, who was perched on his shoulder.

But I frowned. I hadn't heard anything.

The elves sang again.

"_You can feel it in the air!_"

And they shook the bells again.

But I still heard nothing.

The elves continued to shake the bells as they walked up to the dragons on the sleigh and started to attach them. I turned away, too embarrassed to face my friends.

"Aren't those bells the prettiest thing you ever heard?" Junko asked me. He wasn't looking at me; he was staring at the sleigh and dragons, like everyone else.

I shrank at those words. Why couldn't I hear those bells when everyone else could?

Just then, the horns played again, and total silence fell over the crowd.

Slowly the elves began the next song. Finn was so thrilled that he even joined them.

"_Oh . . ._

_You better watch out, better not cry,_

_Better not pout. I'm telling you why!_

_Santa Claus is coming to town!_"

When the last lyric finished, the doors opened once more, and a figure stepped in the doorway. There was so much light behind him that all I could see was his silhouette.

The elves and other children cheered. The dragons started jumping up and down excitedly. All around the square, speakers began blasting "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" as the figure started down the steps to head toward the sleigh.

Elves were climbing all over each other, standing on each other's shoulders to see. With all the bodies in my way, I couldn't get a clear view of anything. How could I know? How could I know what was happening was for real if I couldn't see?

"There he is!" Junko cried, jumping up and down on excitement.

"Where?" I asked, trying to see over everyone.

Aerrow pointed. "There. I see him! Over there!" Radarr squawked excitedly, standing on his shoulders to see for himself.

"I can't see him!" I said. I tried jumping, but no luck. There were just too many elves in my way.

I looked over at Stork. The Merb had smiled—just barely—and tipped his hat to somebody as he went by.

I jumped. For a moment I thought I saw a bearded man dressed in red, but then he disappeared again. "I can't see him! _I can't see him!_" I almost felt panicky. Was there a _reason_ I couldn't see him?

I looked over at the sleigh. Maybe I would see him when he reached the platform with the sleigh.

There the dragons were jumped up and down eagerly, flapping their winds so excitedly that elves were gathering around, trying to keep them calm. I saw it as if in slow motion. One of the bells was loosening on the harness. Gradually it came undone until it was sent flying through the air. It clattered onto the cobblestone, bounced, clattered and bounced again, rolled over an iced puddle, and then came to rest right at my feet.

I reached down and picked it up. Junko had said it was the prettiest sound in the world. But when I rang the bell next to my ear, I didn't hear anything but air. And in that air, I could hear the word, that one little word, as if Arygyn were next to me and whispering in my ear. _Doubter. Doubter. Doubter. Doubter._

I took the bell away from the bell. "Okay," I said to it. "Okay." I won't be a doubter anymore. What is it Stork had said? _Sometimes the most real things in life are the things we can't see_. And Dad. What had Dad said about my not believing? _An end of the magic._

I was not going to let the magic end here.

I closed my eyes. "I believe," I told myself with as much conviction as I could muster. "I believe." I pictured Santa in my mind, just as I had done in Christmases past. "I believe."

I put the bell next to my ear again and shook it.

My eyes flew open. I shook it again just to be sure. There it was. I had heard it! _I heard the bell ring!_ Oh, Junko was right! It was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard!

I took the bell away from my ear and held it front of my face, staring at its beautiful shining surface, hardly daring to believe the sound. But I did believe it. Somehow, in my heart I _knew_ it.

As I gazed at the bell, I saw a reflection that at first wondered was just my imagination. But I was done thinking of things as "my imagination." I turned around, my breath catching in my throat.

There he was. He was everything I had always pictured, and yet he wasn't. He seemed to carry his own light with him, a light warm and welcoming. His red suit and hat were just like all the greeting cards, but it was a robe rather than a jacket with red pants. His beard really was white like snow. It even had the sparkle of snow. But his face . . . it wasn't that of the jolly, happy commercial fellow. It was old and wise beyond age, yet kind and gentle as anything I ever knew.

"What was that you said?" Santa Claus asked. His voice was both grave but light, deep but gentle, human but angelic.

"I-I believe," I answered. My mouth felt so dry that I couldn't speak properly. I looked around and realized the elves had made a ring around us, staring at us. "I believe," I repeated, a little more articulately. As soon as I said it, I felt stupid. Who just says, "I believe"? "I-I believe . . . this is yours." I held out the bell to him.

"Well," Santa Claus said, taking the bell from me in his gloved hand, "thank you."

Suddenly Finn stepped up. "Me! Me! Pick me, Santa!" he cried.

Junko shushed him. "Finn, what're ya doing? Stop it!" He looked downright embarrassed.

"Pick me, pick me! I want the first gift! I want the first gift!"

"Hush, Finn!" Aerrow scolded. Radarr glared at him from Aerrow's shoulder for added affect.

Finn shut up for Aerrow.

Santa Claus turned to Finn with all the royalty of the monarch but without the haughtiness of one. "Young man," he said, "patience." He nodded. "And a smidgen of humility might also serve you well."

Finn stepped back, suddenly looking very embarrassed. "Yes, sir."

"And you, young man," he said, turning to Junko. "A young man full of spirit. Christmas spirit." He let out a soft, "Ho, ho, ho," chuckle. "Keep up the good work."

Junko smiled serenely. "Thank you, Santa!"

Santa stepped aside to look at Aerrow and Radarr. "And Aerrow," he said. When Aerrow stared at him uncertainly, Santa raised an eyebrow and nodded toward him. "It is Aerrow?" Aerrow nodded. "A man of decision. Full of confidence and fire. And yet . . ."

Aerrow smiled tentatively. Radarr huddled close to him as if too protect him, although I didn't know from what.

Santa looked around at the rest of us. "I see you and Radarr have made some new friends."

Aerrow looked around at the rest of us, smiling. "Yes, sir," he answered. "We sure have."

Santa nodded. "That's a lucky lad. There's no greater gift than friendship. You do a good job taking care of them . . . and they of you.

"And speaking of gifts," Santa continued, raising his voice for all to hear and pointing at me, "let's have this young lady right here."

I felt my jaw drop to the floor. What? The first gift of Christmas . . . _for me?_

I glanced over at Stork to be sure this wasn't a prank. He nodded curtly. The guys all looked my way eagerly. There was a bit of envy on their faces, but for the most part, they seemed overjoyed for my sake.

Next thing I knew, a group of elves had picked me up and carried me over to the platform, where they plopped me down onto it. I looked up to see Santa had already gotten into his sleigh, taking the reins of the dragons. He sat there waiting for me before waving at me to join him.

I climbed up into the sleigh with him, feeling almost surreal. Once there, he set me on his lap and looked me right in the eye. "Now," he said, "what would you like for Christmas?"

"Me," I repeated, still unable to believe it.

"You," Santa agreed, nodding.

I took a deep breath and thought hard. I could ask for any material item in the world. So what was it I wanted most?

In an instant I knew. But it just seemed so silly, so outlandish, so simple, that I was reluctant to say it out loud. So I leaned in toward Santa and whispered into his ear.

Santa listened, nodding his head gravely as if this was a serious matter of the utmost importance. When I was done, he sat up. "Yes," he said. "Indeed." His gaze was quite thoughtful. Then he looked at me and said more forcefully, "Yes. Indeed!"

And with that, Santa stood up, as did I when I realized he had. He held up the bell I had found and given back to him for all to see. "The first gift of Christmas!" he cried.

All around there were cheers from the elves and the children. I . . . didn't know how to feel. Mostly I felt an unexplainable joy.

Santa leaned down toward me and held the bell out for me. "This bell," he said, "is a wonderful symbol of the spirit of Christmas, as am I. Just remember, the true spirit of Christmas lies in your heart."

And with that, he placed the bell gently in my hand.

As he did, we heard other bells ringing out, these the bells of a clock. It was midnight at last.

Santa gave my hand one last squeeze as he said, "Merry Christmas."

I turned away and started my way out of the sleigh, where Stork was waiting for me. "Better keep that in a safe place, unless you want the metal moths to get it."

Good, old Stork! He was right, though. I quickly slipped the bell in my pocket, terrified I might lose it if I carried it in my hands.

Once I was back with the other kids, they were smiling happily for me. "Hey! Hey!" Finn said. "Oh, dude, are you lucky!"

We all turned to see the dragons starting to take off. Santa laughed his deep, "Ho, ho, ho!" "Pull, Comet!" he yelled at one of the dragons. "Pull, boy! Prancer, that's a girl!"

We all stared with open mouths. Despite the huge sack, the sleigh was moving, skidding across the platform as the dragons took to the air.

"Good boy, Donder!" Santa cried.

And then the sleigh was in the air.

We all watch in amazement as Santa circled the square twice, then three times, calling all the dragons by name. "Now, Dasher. Now Dancer. Now, Prancer and Vixen!" They swooped in and flew low over our heads before ascending again.

Junko smiled from ear to ear. "It's everything I dreamed it would be!" he said. Finn's face was just as jubilant, and Radarr seemed to be basking in everyone's joy.

Aerrow . . . he was serenely calm, as if feeling a true peacefulness for the first time in his life. But then worry creased his face. "Could . . . could all this be nothing but a dream?" he asked me.

"No," I assured him. "It's real. Every bit of it."

The sleigh was circling the tree now. Santa gave on last crack of his whip, striking the star and sending even more lights sparkling on the tree. And then, in a flash, he was gone, leaving magic like fireworks etched across the sky.

At first there was totally silence. Then every elf in the square cheered and threw their hats in the air. Another year, another group of children pleased!

Apparently for the elves this meant party time. A band immediately got up on the sleigh platform and started playing "Rockin' on Top of the World," which made sense since this was Polar Terra. Junko attempted to dance, and Finn was rocking out to the music with air guitar. Even Aerrow couldn't wipe the silly grin off his face.

Radarr was looking to be enjoying himself as much as anyone else . . . until the chicken came back. She spotted him in the crowd and came fluttering over. With a screech of terror, Radarr leapt from Aerrow's shoulder and scampered off into the crowd with the chicken running after, leaving a trail of feathers.

But although the elves were partying, Stork seemed to think it was time to get to bed. "All aboard!" he called, looking at his watch.

As we were boarding, Stork stood at the door. "Tickets," he said. "Have your tickets ready."

As each kid got on, Stork gave them a piece of advice. Mostly it was stuff our parents tell us with a Stork twist. "Eat your five food groups every day, or you'll shrivel up and die," he said to one, and to Hamish, the guy with braces, "Remember to brush after every meal if you don't want to die of gum disease," and to still another, "Remember to duck and cover, or you're doomed."

I watched curiously. What would he say to me?

When he got to Finn's ticket, he took it and did his fancy punching and handed it back. But he didn't give any motherly wisdom.

Finn looked at his ticket. "'Lean,'" he read, rolling his eyes. "Whatever that's s'posed to mean."

Stork glared at him. "'Lean' is spelled with _four_ letters," he growled. "I believe I punched five." He flicked Finn's thumb out of the way.

"Hey!" Finn said to him. I groaned, thinking he was at it again. Finn snatched his hand and ticket away from Stork and said, "Are you telling me I don't know how to . . ." But he looked at the ticket one more time and stopped. "Oh," he said. "Whoops. It says 'learn.' My bad, dude." And with that, he headed up the plank.

"Lesson learned," Stork said simply, addressing the next person.

It was Aerrow. He took it and punched it and then gave it back.

Aerrow and I looked at it. It said, "DEPEND ON." But when he flipped it over, it said, "RELY ON." Another flip and it said, "COUNT ON." With one more flip, it said, "LEAD ON."

"That's one special ticket you got there," Stork said.

"Sure is," Aerrow agreed, looking up. "But . . . lead on? How can I lead anywhere?"

"You did it tonight, didn't ya?" Stork pointed out. He saluted him. "Follow you anywhere, sir! Even though you'll probably be forced to lead us into impending doom."

How cheery.

"So," Stork went on, "can you _count on_ us to get you home safe and sound?"

Aerrow smiled. "Yes, sir," he said. "Me," he turned to look at me and Junko, "and my friends."

But he hesitated just as he was about to get on. "Wait a minute, sir," he said. Then he turned around and cried, "Radarr!"

At first, no one came. Aerrow shouted a second time.

Out of the rows of dancing elves came a streak of blue as Radarr scurried as fast as possible up the plank. The white hen was still following close behind.

Aerrow watched them disappear into the ship and said, "Okay, I'm set." Only then did he walk up the plank.

Junko was next. Stork did his punching and then handed it back like before. Junko took it and peered at it. "Inspire?" he said.

"Yes, inspire," Stork said. "Inspiration. You're the light that keeps your friends going, boy. Just make sure you don't spread any diseases while you're at it."

Junko let that last part slide and smiled as he got on the ship.

When I stepped up, the last to board, Stork said, "Ah, yes. Young lady with all the questions. Ticket."

I placed the ticket in his outstretched hand. But instead of punching it like he did all the others, he put it behind his back and punched it like that. Then he handed it back, and I read it. "It says—"

But Stork shushed me. "It's nothing I need to know."

I smiled at him and walked up the plank. My word made me feel the warmest I had ever felt and was true in every respect.

Punched on my ticket was the word 'BELIEVE.'


	9. Chapter 9: The Magic Never Ends

Author's Notes: Never mind, we're leaving in about 30 minutes. So here's the last chapter!

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 9: The Magic Never Ends<span>

Once on the ship, all the other kids were gathered around me enthusiastically. "Come on, let's see the bell!" someone yelled.

"Yeah, I wanna see!"

"Yeah, let's see the bell!"

Junko had hold of my sleeve and was dragging me in front of everyone. "Yeah, come on, let's see the bell!"

"Yeah!" Finn agreed on the other side of him.

Aerrow sidled up next to me, looking expectantly. For once, he didn't look uncomfortable in the crowd. Radarr was hanging off his back and peering eagerly over his shoulder. (The hen was nowhere in sight.)

I dug into my pocket . . . and froze. All I could find was the hole in my pocket from earlier that evening.

I felt my smile fall as I stared around at all those eager faces. "It's gone," I said.

Everyone's faces fell. Junko looked uneasy. "Where is it?" he asked.

I felt my voice breaking. "I've lost it. I lost the bell from Santa's sleigh."

"It's gone?" Gareth whispered. Exclamations went up all around us.

"Don't worry," Aerrow said at once. "We'll find it!" He looked over at the door.

"Yeah, we'll find it!" Junko agreed.

"Yeah, we'll help ya!" Finn added. "All of us!"

All the kids were nodding and voicing their agreement, and as a one huge tide they headed toward the door.

But at that moment, we all felt the engines roar to life and the ship lift off the ground. Aerrow ran up to the helm. "Stork, hold it!"

Stork shook his head. "Sorry, kid. Got a schedule to keep."

Junko watched as the town disappeared from our sight out the window. "It's too late," he said softly.

Finn looked at me with pity. "Gosh, that's really too bad." And then, seeming to realize that he might not sound that sincere, he added, "Really!"

I knew they were all trying to help, but now I just wanted to be left alone. I'd never felt so heartbroken. I went and sat down on a chair in the far corner. Aerrow followed with Radarr still on his shoulder. He took a seat next to me, but much to my relief, he didn't try to comfort me with empty words. He just took my hand and said, "I'm sorry." Radarr whimpered his equivalent.

I didn't look up at them, even though I knew I should. I couldn't have swallowed the lump in my throat to say anything anyway.

* * *

><p>After all the excitement, the children on board were like most children who have stayed up too late; they were quiet, non-talkative, and sleepy. Compared to the speeding, thrilling journey out, the trip back seemed slow and monotonous.<p>

Being the last one on meant Lark was the first one off.

But before she left, she lingered by the door to the bridge. Aerrow watched me as I went over to talk to her, but he didn't look reproachful.

As I approached, Lark held out her hand to shake. "Thanks for stopping the train for me," she said.

I took her hand and shook it without regret. "Merry Christmas," I told her.

And with that, she turned and left.

As I watched her walk down the plank, a sudden curiosity took hold of me. "Stork," I asked, "what did you punch on her ticket? If you can tell me, that is."

Stork looked down at Lark a moment and then met my gaze. "Some hearts," he said, "are too hardened to be punctured."

* * *

><p>One by one the kids got off. I watched Hamish leave, then Eyeball and Dove. We also watched the Sky Scouts leave (much to Stork's relief), as well as Perry and her puppets Lady Ursula and Dr. Ogre and then Horace and the Blizzarians (much to Noob's disappointment). Each time Stork would call out the terra before we got there.<p>

Finally, he called over the intercom. "Terra Nimbus. Next stop, Terra Nimbus."

Aerrow, Radarr, Finn, Junko and I were all clustered together. As soon as Aerrow and Radarr stood up, Finn said, "Hey! Where ya goin', dudes?"

Aerrow pointed toward the door. "This is our stop," he said.

"Oh," Finn said, sounding disappointed in the answer. "Okay. Merry Christmas."

I stood up. "You can't go!" I said at once. "You can't go back there!"

He looked surprised at that. "My present is there," he said simply.

"And that's _all_ that's there," I added. "You deserve better than that."

Finn thought about it and then said, "You could come home with me."

"Or me," I put in.

Aerrow looked back and forth between us. "And then what?" he asked. "Where will we end up then? An orphanage? If that happened, what would happen to Radarr?"

"We won't let that happen," I insisted.

"We're just kids," he said. "If that's what the grownups want, they're going to try to make it that way."

I shook my head. "It shouldn't be this way," I insisted.

"Don't worry about us," Aerrow insisted. "We'll be alright."

Radarr chirped in agreement, standing up on two legs and nodding.

A bit my lip. I just didn't like it. But Aerrow was right. There wasn't a whole lot we could do.

"Well, uh . . ." Finn shook Aerrow's hand. "Good luck to you, dude. And you, too," he added, ruffling Radarr's fur.

"Yeah," Junko agreed, pulling them both into a hug. "Merry Christmas, guys."

When he set them down, Radarr climbed up on Aerrow's shoulder. It was my turn. I stepped up to them and gazed at them a moment, wishing they didn't have to go. Then finally, I hugged them tightly. "Have a wonderful Christmas," I whispered.

"You, too," Aerrow answered. And he hugged me back.

As soon as Stork and Aerrow disappeared from the bridge, I went out on the deck to listen to their parting words. Junko and Finn joined me. "Watch your step," we heard Stork say. "You don't want to fall off the plank. Could break every bone in your body."

Yes, great parting words.

"And merry Christmas," Stork added.

Aerrow, however, seemed to be staring over the vacant lot from which we had picked him up. There, by the dumpster from which I'd first seen Radarr crawl out of, was his present. "Look!" Junko said excitedly, pointing. "Santa's been here already!"

Aerrow muttered something to Stork, perhaps a responsive, "Merry Christmas," and then went running to the present, Radarr scampering behind him. We all watched as Aerrow ran to it and held it up to show us. "Look, look!" he cried. "Santa got here!"

"Isn't that amazing?" Junko gasped.

I smiled. "It is amazing," I agreed. But not unbelievable.

As Stork headed back inside and was on his way up to the helm, we watched Aerrow rip open his present. (It was, after all, midnight, which meant it was Christmas.) Once he had his prize, he smiled and held them up for us to see, Radarr running around his feet excitedly.

I could hardly believe my eyes. Finn spoke first. "He wanted . . . weapons?"

"Energy blades," Junko defined, leaning down and squinting at them.

"Sounds like Aerrow," I agreed. Friendly, kind, brave . . . and not someone you want to cross.

That's when I knew he would be okay.

* * *

><p>After a couple more stops, in which Noob, the Greemus hippies, Chuckie, and a couple others got off, it was my turn to get off.<p>

As I got up and was about to head toward the door, I turned to say goodbye to my new friends first. Junko smiled sadly at me. "Hey, I'm sorry about the bell," he said. "It was a really special present."

"Well, you know what they say," Finn added. "It's the thought that counts. You still got the first gift of Christmas."

I nodded. "Yeah," I agreed. It didn't make me feel that much better, but it did feel good to know they cared.

"Well," Finn said awkwardly, waving, "see ya."

"Yeah," I said to both of them, ". . . see ya."

"See ya," Junko agreed. And he wrapped me in a warm hug.

Stork was watching the ongoings from the doorway. Then he checked his watch and rolled his eyes. "If you kids are done spreading germs around through direct contact, we can leave any day now."

Junko finally let me go, and I waved one last time to the guys before I turned to leave.

As Stork and I headed down the plank, he said, "Watch your step," just like he had with Aerrow.

Once we were at the bottom, I turned to him and said, "Thank you." If not for him, I would never had gotten on this crazy ride.

"No," Stork shot back at me, "thank _you_."

Now that I'm older, I think I know what he meant, but at the time, I was greatly puzzled yet pleased.

Just as I was starting to walk toward my house, Stork added, "The one thing about ships: It doesn't matter where they're going, doomed or not. What matters is deciding to _get on_." And with that, he winked at me.

I nodded and smiled at him. It was the greatest truth I have ever heard.

Once I got back to the house, I heard Stork shout something at me. I stopped in the doorway and turned around. "What?" I yelled back.

Stork cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled even louder. "Merry Christmas!" He waved.

I saluted and stood there smiling as he disappeared inside the ship and watched as the plank went up.

But just before the Condor Express took off and disappeared into the sky, I could just see a man in a loudly-colored robe sitting on top of the ship. He smiled broadly at me and waved before transforming into a bird and taking off into the air alongside the ship.

And just like that, Arygyn and the Condor Express were gone.

How could I ever keep a memory of this night? I dug into my pocket one last time, the pocket where I had put my bell . . . and felt the hole. That's how I felt in my heart right now . . . like I had this wonderful thing within it, and now there was only a hole. I wondered if I would ever see Aerrow, Radarr, Junko, Finn, or Stork ever again. I knew, somehow, that I would never again see Arygyn or the Condor Express.

An end to the magic.

_But I believe,_ I thought to myself. Doesn't that count for anything?

I sighed and closed the door as quietly as I could. As soon as I turned around, I looked immediately at the Christmas tree in the living room to my right. There were still no presents, nothing in the stockings, and the cookies were undisturbed. Santa may have made it to Terra Nimbus, but he hadn't yet been here.

As I headed up the stairs, I heard the stopped clock in the living room start ticking again.

* * *

><p>The first thing I heard in the morning was Lynn's voice. She was on my bed, shaking me. "Wake up! Wake up!" she cried. "Santa's been here! Santa's been here!"<p>

I glanced at the lock. It was around eight in the morning.

Lynn leapt off my bed, running to the door and shouting, "Hurry up! Hurry up!" I heard her run to our parents' room and shout, "Mom, Dad, wake up! Wake up! Santa's been here! Santa's been here!"

As I sat up in bed, I looked out my window at where the Condor Express had landed the night before. The snow was not disturbed at all, as it should have been if the ship had really come.

But it had been there last night. Right?

I jumped out of bed and grabbed my robe that was hanging on my bedpost. As soon as I did, I heard a ripping sound and saw crystal pieces go scattering across the floor.

Wait a minute. Wasn't that supposed to happen last night when I went out to the ship?

I pulled my robe off the bed and felt the hole that I had torn in the pocket just now. It felt even bigger than it had last night. That meant I had only widened it, right? But then how did the crystal pieces get back inside it?

Downstairs I could hear Lynn shouting, "Mom, Dad, look! He brought us all kinds of stuff!"

There was nothing to do but head downstairs if I was going to satisfy my little sister. I'd have to puzzle things out later.

* * *

><p>Once all the gifts had been unwrapped, I felt that I'd gotten plenty of presents, whether or not they were from Santa, whether or not what happened was all a dream. And I still refused to believe that was the case. It had been real. It was just besides the point right now.<p>

With everything open now, Lynn was looking at her things excitedly. "This the most beautiful, most wonderful Christmas ever!" And since my thoughts were still filled with last night's adventure, I had to agree.

"Wait," Lynn said as she peered around the tree. "Look. Here's one more." She came out from behind the tree holding a small present wrapped in candy-striped wrapping with a number seven holly-green bow. "Has your name on it," Lynn said, handing it to me.

I set down the doll I had been playing with and began to unwrap it, wondering what gift could be so small.

As soon as I opened the box, I froze. It couldn't be! Slowly, delicately, I pulled it out and held it up.

The silver sleigh bell shimmered in the light coming in through the window. It was the most beautiful thing I ever saw! I rang it just to be sure. And there it was . . . the most beautiful sound I ever heard!

Lynn was as fascinated as I was. She took it in her hands and rang it as well, he face lighting with the happiest of smiles. I could tell she heard it, too.

At the bottom of the box was a note. I pulled it out and read it. It said, "Found this in the seat of my sleigh. Better fix that hole in your pocket." And it was signed, "Mr. C."

Lynn glanced at the note and looked up at me, her eyes shining with questions. I vowed to myself that I would answer them in absolute honesty.

But first, Mom came over. "Oh, what a beautiful bell!" she said when she saw it. "Who's it from?"

"Santa," I said, handing it to her.

"Santa?" she repeated doubtfully. "Really?" She took the bell and rang it. "Oh, that's too bad," she said.

"What's this?" Dad said as he came up next to her. He took the bell and rang it himself. "Huh. Broken," he said. He handed it back to me. "Sorry about that, hon."

When they had rung the bell, they hadn't heard a sound.

I rang it for Lynn and myself one last time when Mom interrupted us, saying, "Come on, kids, we don't want to be late!" We were going to visit relatives for Christmas dinner.

Lynn grabbed her new teddy bear and ran upstairs to get ready, but I stayed behind a moment, looking the bell over before carefully setting it down on the table and heading upstairs myself.

* * *

><p>As the years passed, I did eventually get to see Aerrow and Radarr again, as well as Junko, Finn, and Stork. And I'll have you know that they are all doing just fine. But that's another story.<p>

At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Lynn found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe.

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: That is it. The end. And right on time! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Hope you all enjoyed it, and may you all have a very merry Christmas!<p> 


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